ERROR: "Virtual machine is a shell VM for an independent disk" when importing a VM into VCD via CMT debug-auto-import

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

• Cannot import a virtual machine (VM) into VMware Cloud Director (VCD) via the below Cell Management Tool (CMT):
  • /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool debug-auto-import -vm <vm-name>

• The following error is observed:

Virtual machine is a shell VM for an independent disk

• Original Named Disk still exists in VCD under Virtual Data Center > Named Disks and Attached VM Count is 0.

Environment

• VMware Cloud Director 10.6.1

Cause

This issue is caused by re-registering the VM in vCenter which is created with the Named Disk attached to the VM and as a result, VCD is unable to import the VM.

Resolution

To resolve the issue:

1. Remove the Named Disk from the VM in vCenter
2. Clone a new VM from this re-registered VM in vCenter
3. Import this new cloned VM to VCD via UI: Import a Virtual Machine from vCenter as a vApp in the VMware Cloud Director Tenant Portal
4. Attach the Original Named Disk to the imported VM: Attach or Detach a VMware Cloud Director Named Disk to a Virtual Machine