During the ESXi host upgrade process, the upgrade precheck may fail with an image compliance error.

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

During the ESXi host upgrade process, the upgrade precheck may fail with an image compliance error. This typically occurs when the NSX installation state on the host becomes inconsistent often after the host is moved between clusters or re-added to an NSX-enabled cluster.

• Image compliance error appears during host upgrade prechecks.
• NSX Edge upgrades completed successfully.
• Error occurs only on the ESXi host upgrade stage.
• Restarting the upgrade services does not resolve the issue.
• On NSX Manager, the host displays “Install Failed.”
• Host reports “No manager configured” when checked locally.

Environment

VMware NSX Data Center

Cause

The issue is caused by the ESXi host not being properly registered with the NSX Manager after being moved into the cluster. Although network connectivity (ICMP and required ports) to the NSX Manager is functional, the internal NSX state becomes desynchronized.

This results in:

• NSX Manager showing Install Failed
• Host showing No manager configured
• Image compliance validation failing during upgrade prechecks

When the host was moved into the cluster, the NSX installation did not complete successfully. The stale or partial NSX install state on the host prevented the upgrade precheck workflow from validating the host image, leading to the image compliance error.

Resolution

To correct the NSX state on the affected host:

1. Remove the host from the cluster.
2. Force-remove NSX configuration from the host by running: 
   nsxcli -c del nsx
3. Re-add the host to the cluster.
4. Trigger NSX Host Preparation again.
5. Verify that the host NSX status shows as:

• • UP / SUCCESS
  • NSX Manager shows the host as prepared with no installation errors

After reinstallation, the image compliance error was resolved and the host passed the upgrade prechecks successfully.

• NSX installation on the host is healthy.
• Host upgrade precheck completes without errors.
• Environment is ready to proceed with the upgrade