VCF 9.x installation fails on the Deploy and Configure NSX stage with error "Failed to start nsx-sfhc service on host"

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• During VCF 9.x installation or workload domain creation, the process fails on the Deploy and Configure NSX stage.
• NSX manager nodes have been deployed and the vCenter Server is registered as a compute manager.
• In the NSX UI, on the Fabric > Hosts page, the ESX hosts in the cluster being created are in an error state with a message similar to the following on one or more hosts:
  
  Failed to install software on host. Failed to start nsx-sfhc service on host: #######. Verify if nsx-lcp-bundle is installed on the host
  
  
• The NSX VIBs were removed from one or more ESX hosts via the esxcli software vib remove <vib name> command.
  • The removal of the NSX VIBs can be validated by running esxcli software vib list | egrep 'nsx|vsip' and seeing less than the following as output:
    
    nsx-adf                        9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-cfgagent                   9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-context-mux                9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-cpp-libs                   9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-esx-datapath               9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-exporter                   9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-host                       9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-ids                        9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-monitoring                 9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-mpa                        9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-nestdb                     9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-netopa                     9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-opsagent                   9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-platform-client            9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-proto2-libs                9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-proxy                      9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-python-logging             9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-python-protobuf            9.0.1.0-9.0.24800347                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-python-utils               9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-sfhc                       9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-shared-libs                9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-snproxy                    9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsx-vdpi                       9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
nsxcli                         9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
vds-vsip                       9.0.1-0.24957456                      VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
vsipfwlib                      9.0.1.0-9.0.24952112                  VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-09-24    host
    
    Note: Versions and dates will likely differ.
    
    

Environment

VMware NSX 9.x

Cause

As of NSX 9.0, the NSX VIBs are a core part of the ESX operating system. In previous versions of NSX, these VIBs were installed on the host during preparation as a transport node in NSX. If these VIBs are removed from an ESX 9.0 host, they will not be reinstalled by any automated means. 

Resolution

Reimage the hosts and proceed with the VCF installation and/or host preparation in NSX.