Resolving validation error: This ESXi Host has 3 boot banks, required 2.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) or vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) validation fails during readiness pre-checks. The validation interface or logs report the exact error: "This ESXi Host has 3 boot banks, required 2, Resolve this issue to proceed further".

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.2.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

A third, anomalous vfat partition is present on the storage subsystem and mounted as an additional boot bank. This violates the ESXi architectural requirement which strictly mandates exactly two boot banks (bootbank and altbootbank). This is commonly caused by stale installation media, phantom partitions from storage migrations, or improperly mapped SAN LUNs.

Resolution

1. Connect to the affected ESXi host via SSH using root credentials.

2. Execute the following command to map all active file systems and identify the rogue vfat volume (which may show as completely empty): esxcli storage filesystem list

3. Identify the underlying storage device identifier for the rogue volume by running: vmkfstools -P /vmfs/volumes/<ROGUE_VOLUME_UUID>

Note the device identifier (e.g., naa.xxx or mpx.vmhbaX) and partition number under the "Part of:" output.

4. Verify the partition layout on the identified device: partedUtil getptbl /vmfs/devices/disks/<DEVICE_IDENTIFIER>

5. Remediate the phantom partition based on the storage type:

• Local Disk: If the partition is a phantom volume on a local persistent disk, delete it: partedUtil delete /vmfs/devices/disks/<DEVICE_IDENTIFIER> <PARTITION_NUMBER>
• External/SAN Storage: If the partition resides on an erroneously mapped SAN LUN, SD card, or USB drive, unmap the LUN from the host or physically remove the external media.

6. Rescan the storage subsystem to clear the stale mount points: esxcli storage core adapter rescan --all

7. Retry the VCF/vLCM validation pre-check.