UI Error During VM Migration: "TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'noPermission')"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to migrate a virtual machine in the vSphere Client, the migration wizard fails during the datastore selection or storage policy phase. The UI throws the following raw JavaScript error message:

TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'noPermission')

Environment

 

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

• VMware ESXi 8.0

• vSphere HTML5 Client

 

Cause

This issue is triggered when the user account executing the migration lacks the required vCenter privileges to perform a vMotion or evaluate the target datastore/storage policy. Rather than gracefully warning the user that they lack permissions, a bug in the vSphere Client UI fails to parse the permission check, resulting in an unhandled JavaScript TypeError.

Resolution

To permanently resolve this issue, you must grant the appropriate migration and datastore privileges to the user's vCenter role.

1. Verify Role Privileges: Ensure the user's assigned role includes the necessary migration privileges at the vCenter, Cluster, and Datastore levels. Standard required privileges include:
• Resource > Migrate powered on virtual machine (for vMotion)
• Resource > Migrate powered off virtual machine (for cold migration)
• Datastore > Allocate space (on the target datastore)
2. Apply Permissions: Once the role is updated, have the user refresh their vSphere Client session and retry the migration.

Workaround:

If the migration is urgent, it can be completed immediately by logging into the vSphere Client with a Global Administrator account (e.g., [email protected]). Note that this should only be used temporarily while the user's role-based access control (RBAC) permissions are corrected.