"Connect at power on" becomes unintentionally enabled in the ESXi Host Client

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms

• When clicking Connect in the ESXi Host Client, Connect at power on becomes enabled.
  
   
  
  
• When clicking Connect in the ESXi Host Client, the ethenetX.startConnected parameter in the vmx file is removed or changed from FALSE to TRUE.

Environment

vSphere ESXi 7.x
vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

In the ESXi Host Client, the Connect and Connect at power on checkboxes are linked.

Resolution

To change only the Connect at power on setting or Connect state, modify it from the vSphere Client.