ESXi is updated although an error message "no boot partition found" occurs during applying patch.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• When applying a patch to ESXi,  "no boot partition found" error occurs with following messages.
  [InstallationError]
  Failed to update bootloader: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.################################: no boot partition found
        cause = /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.################################: no boot partition found
         vibs = ['VMware_bootbank_esx-base_7.0.3-0.150.24784741']
  Please refer to the log file for more details.
  
  
• ESXi is unexpectedly  updated to patched build when ESXi reboots after the above error occurs.
  
  
• The result from partedutil command shows partition table is corrupted.
  
  Partition table and usable sector information for disks
  Device:  /vmfs/devices/disks/naa..################################:
  Partition table:
  Error: The primary GPT table states that the backup GPT is located beyond the end of disk. This may happen if the disk has shrunk or partition table is corrupted. Fix, by writing backup table at the end? This will also fix the last usable sector appropriately as per the new reduced size. diskPath (/dev/disks/naa..################################:) diskSize (##########) AlternateLBA (##########) LastUsableLBA (##########)
  Warning: The available space to /dev/disks/naa..################################: appears to have shrunk. This may happen if the disk size has reduced. The space has been reduced by (########## blocks). You can fix the GPT to correct the available space or continue with the current settings ? This will also move the backup table at the end if it is not at the end already. diskSize (##########) AlternateLBA (##########) LastUsableLBA (1875384974) NewLastUsableLBA (1873045470)
  Error: Can't have a partition outside the disk!
  Unable to read partition table for device /vmfs/devices/disks/naa..################################
  .

Environment

VMware ESXi

VMware ESX

Cause

The error message "no boot partition found" means that partition table is corrupted.

However, when you encounter the error message, VIBs included in the patch have already been installed. 

Therefore, ESXi is updated after reboot even though partition table is corrupted.

Resolution

You need to clean-install ESXi to repair corrupted partition table.