An ESXi upgrade from 8.x to 9.0.2.0 is automatically cancelling after the precheck is run

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer

Issue/Introduction

• No UI message is presented that would indicate why the upgrade is automatically cancelling
• A retry of the upgrade results in the same behaviour
• There is a red banner error with a failed password management task on the SDDC Manager UI > Security > Password Management page, with a RETRY button and a CANCEL button available:

Password management operation failed

Environment

VCF 9.0.2.0

Cause

• The presence of the red banner indicates that a password management operation is still in progress - pending either RETRY or CANCEL being selected.
• This creates a lock blocking other workflows, including the ESXi upgrade workflow.

Resolution

• Cancel the failed password management task on the SDDC Manager UI > Security > Password Management page.
• Retry the ESXi upgrade - this time it is expected to succeed.