OVF Deployment Fails with “Invalid Datastore Format” due to in-use partition on ESXi boot device

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Deploying OVF fails with error: "Failed- Invalid Datastore Format"

/var/log/vmkwarning.log shows that the modification is not supported as partition is in-use.

YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss Wa(180) vmkwarning: cpu6:558##)WARNING: Partition: 2124: t10.ATA__________Micron_5400_#####___________252#####9BFC: in-use partition 7 modification is not supported
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss Wa(180) vmkwarning: cpu6:558##)WARNING: Partition: 2124: t10.ATA__________Micron_5400_#####___________252#####9BFC: in-use partition 7 modification is not supported

Validate that the OVF deployment target datastore is not using the ESXi boot device or any of its partitions following one of the below methods:

1. Using vCenter
   1. Navigate to vCenter -> Inventory -> Hosts and Clusters
   2. Select the ESXi host in question
   3. At the right side, Click Configure -> Storage -> Datastores
   4. Select the datastore intended for OVF deployment 
   5. Verify that the selected datastore is not named OSDATA-#### and it is on a different device than the ESXI boot disk
2. Using ESXI host UI
   1. Log in to the ESXi Host Client
   2. Open a browser and connect to https://<ESXi-host-IP>/ui
   3. Log in with root credentials.
   4. Identify the device containing ESX-OSData, Go to Storage -> Devices -> Locate the device marked as Boot Device or OSDATA -> Note the device name (for example, naa.*)
   5. Identify the Target Datastore Device, Go to Storage -> Datastores
   6. Check the datastore intended for OVF deployment
3. Using esxcli command
   1. SSH to ESXi host using root credentials
   2. Run the following command to list the file system
      1. esxcli storage vmfs extent list

As observed in the above output, same UUID shows that there is only one device that has been partitioned. The primary datastore “OSDATA-#####” corresponds to the host boot disk. Although a valid VMFS datastore was selected during OVF deployment, this datastore is located on the same physical storage as the ESXi system partition. ESXi fails datastore validation during OVF deployment because an additional partition was created on the host boot disk after the OSDATA partition (partition 8).

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

The issue occurred because the target datastore was created on the same physical device as the ESXi boot disk

Resolution

Ensure that the target datastore resides on a separate physical storage device from the ESXi boot disk. If no suitable datastore exists, add a new storage device such as SAN, vSAN, NFS.

Once the storage device is presented to the host, create a datastore according to the storage type

Reference article below:

Create vSphere Datastore

Additional Information

The configuration files cannot be stored on a PMem datastore. If you choose to use PMem, you must select a regular datastore for the configuration files of the virtual machine.
Deploy a Virtual Machine from an OVF or OVA File in the VMware Host Client

Managing Persistent Memory