When attempting to perform host profile activity with minimal permissions user, operation fails with "Permission to perform this operation was denied. You do not hold privileges "HostProfileManager.text HostProfileManager : [Host profile > XXX]""

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This Knowledge Base article lists the minimum set of privileges required for a user or user group to successfully create, view, edit, attach, and apply VMware Host Profiles within the vSphere environment.

Users require granular permissions to manage Host Profiles but encounter insufficient privileges errors when attempting operations such as checking compliance or applying a profile to a host.

Environment

VMware vSphere 7.x

VMware vSphere 8.x

Cause

Host Profiles use a specific, dedicated set of privileges under the Host Profile category within the vSphere Permissions model. Without these explicit permissions granted on the relevant vCenter object, the user is unable to perform profile operations.

Resolution

Assign the following permissions to the user/group at the vCenter root level:

Privilege Name	Description
Host profile Clear	Allows clearing of profile related information.
Host profile Create	Allows creation of a host profile.
Host profile Delete	Allows deletion of a host profile.
Host profile Edit	Allows editing a host profile.
Host profile Export	Allows exporting a host profile
Host profile View	Allows viewing a host profile.

Note: You can create a rule with these permissions and assign it to the user/group at the VC root level. (do not check propagate to child if minimal permissions need to be assigned.)

Refer KB for steps on creating/assigning the permissions: Creating and assigning a role with privileges to create and manage virtual machine to a Domain or Local User/Group

Additional Information

Document: Host Profile Privileges