vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) image extraction fails when using cloned custom image profiles with Addons using PowerCLI in VCF 9.1

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to bootstrap a vCenter Server or set up a vSAN cluster using vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) in vSphere 9.1, the "Extracting image from host" (host seeding) task fails. This issue specifically occurs when the ESXi host is installed with a custom image profile that was created by cloning a profile containing a Vendor Addon using PowerCLI.

• vLCM image extraction fails during VCSA bootstrap or cluster creation.
• Error in vSphere UI: "Failed to extract image from the host."
• /var/run/log/lifecycle.log on the ESXi host shows errors indicating missing components (e.g., MRVL-E3-Ethernet-iSCSI-FCoE, MRVL-E4-CNA-Driver-Bundle) that should have been managed by the addon.
• Checking the host via esxcli software addon get returns no results, and /var/db/esximg/addons/ is empty despite the profile being intended to include an addon.

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESXi: 9.1.0 (Build 25370933)
• vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM): 9.1.x
• Tooling: PowerCLI ImageBuilder (specifically New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile and Export-EsxImageProfile)

Cause

A bug exists in the Export-EsxImageProfile PowerCLI workflow. When an image profile containing a Vendor Addon is exported as an offline bundle (or cloned and then exported), the addon metadata is not carried forward into the resulting ZIP/ISO.

When this image is installed on a host, the host lacks the necessary metadata to explain why certain base-image components were removed (as per the addon's instructions). During vLCM host seeding, the system detects these missing components without a valid reason (addon metadata), flags the image as non-compliant, and terminates the extraction.

Resolution

This is a known issue in vSphere 9.1 PowerCLI ImageBuilder workflows. A fix is planned for a future release.

Workaround: To bypass this issue, avoid cloning or re-exporting the image profile using Export-EsxImageProfile. Instead, use the original offline bundle created directly from the software specification:

1. Create the initial offline bundle using New-OfflineBundle with the required software spec and depots.
   • Example: New-OfflineBundle -SoftwareSpec "config.json" -Depots "esxi-depot.zip","addon-depot.zip" -Destination "original-image.zip"
2. Install this "non-cloned" image profile onto the ESXi host(s).
3. Proceed with the vLCM image extraction or VCF bootstrap process.

Note: If you need to change the profile name or description, this currently cannot be done while maintaining addon metadata functionality until the fix is released.

Additional Information

The issue is NOT with the New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile command itself, but specifically with how the Export-EsxImageProfile cmdlet handles addon metadata during the export to a bundle.