Error: "Time out waiting for host to join NSX Manager" at 48% during NSX host preparation.

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to configure or redeploy VMware NSX on ESXi hosts, the installation fails consistently at 48%.

• In the NSX Manager UI, we see the error: "Failed to install software on host. Failed to install software on host. Time out waiting for host to join NSX Manager."
• Removing the host from the cluster and re-adding it results in the same failure at 48%, even if the NSX status initially shows "Not Configured."
• Attempts to manually push the certificate to the Transport Node fail with: "Push certificate failed: 'Failure invoking NSX manager API to push certificate. 500:None'".
• In the affected host's /var/log/nsxcli.log, we see "join management-plane" task fails with errors indicating connectivity (Connection timed out) or trust issues (No APH UUID found in CheckTrusted RPC response).

Environment

VMware NSX

Cause

The root cause is the presence of stale NSX VIBs or, residual certificate states on the ESXi host from a previous deployment.

Even if the NSX Manager UI reports the host as "Not Configured" the underlying VIBs may still be installed or partially corrupt. These stale components cause a trust mismatch (indicated by the SSL and APH UUID errors), preventing the host from successfully joining the Management Plane during the re-preparation process.

Resolution

Completely Uninstall NSX from a Managed Host in a vSphere Cluster and then re-prepare the host for NSX.