Error "jq: parse error: Invalid escape" during VMware Cloud Foundation Fleet Manager upgrade or backup operations
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Error "jq: parse error: Invalid escape" during VMware Cloud Foundation Fleet Manager upgrade or backup operations

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Article ID: 445881

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Updated On:

Products

VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer

Issue/Introduction

  • When performing a Fleet Manager upgrade or attempting a manual backup within VMware Cloud Foundation, the task fails during the pre-check or backup stages.

  • Fleet manager backups fail with the error: 

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SECZ INFO - Copy backup manifest to sftp:c:\SFTP\VCF/vcf/backups/########-####-####-#####-###########/9.1.0.0.25370367/vcf-fleet-lcm/######-####-####-####-############/9.1.0.0.25371109/2026-06-23T19-48-40Z
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SECZZ INFO - Successfully uploaded backup to sftp://administrator@<SFTP_Server_IP>/~/c:\SFTP\VCF/vcf/backups/########-####-####-####-############/9.1.0.0.25370367/vcf-fleet-lcm/######-####-####-####-############/9.1.0.0.25371109/YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:Z40/YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:40Z.base.tgz
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SECZ NOTICE: Config file "/root/.config/rclone/rclone.conf" not found - using defaults
jq: parse error: Invalid escape at line 4, column 218
time="YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SEC.257Z" level=info msg="sub-process exited" argo=true error="<nil>"

Environment

VCF Operations 9.x 

SDDC Manager Appliance 9.x

Cause

The issue occurs because the SFTP backup destination path has been configured using Windows-style directory definitions containing backslashes (e.g., c:\SFTP\VCF). The underlying VMware Cloud Foundation appliance runs on a Unix-based operating system, where the backslash character (\) is treated as an escape character. When internal configuration management tools pass this path to the JSON processor (jq), the utility fails to parse the string due to an invalid escape sequence, causing the upgrade and backup processes to abort.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, the SFTP destination path syntax must be corrected to use standard Unix-style formatting.

The following procedure must be followed:

  1. Log in to the SDDC Manager or VCF Operations management interface.

  2. Navigate to the Backup Configuration window designated for the Fleet Manager.

  3. Locate the field for the SFTP Directory Path and modify the input to utilize forward slashes instead of backslashes, ensuring Windows drive letters are omitted.

    • Example of an invalid path: 

      c:\SFTP\VCF or sftp://user@IP/c:\SFTP\VCF

    • Example of a valid path: 

      /SFTP/vcf

  4. Commit the changes by selecting Save.

  5. Restart the Fleet Manager upgrade process or execute a manual backup workflow.

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