After upgrading ESXi hosts from a previous version of ESXi you encounter one or both of the error messages:
Error 1: A general system error occurred; Failed to fetch image for desired state id -1.
Error 2: Cannot complete the configuration of the vSphere HA agent on the host. "Setting desired image spec for cluster failed".
VMware vCenter 7.x
VMware vCenter 8.x
VMware ESXi 7.x
VMware ESXi 8.x
The cluster has been changed to use vSphere Lifecycle Manager images (vLCM), but it has no ESXi image/version and/or other options configured.
To resolve the issue you can follow one of two methods:
Option 1:
Continue to use vLCM image based updates going forward and configure it appropriately (configure ESXi image, vendor add-on, etc). See TechDoc "Convert a Cluster or a Host That Uses Baselines Into a Cluster or a Host That Uses vSphere Lifecycle Manager Images" in the additional information section below for more information.
Option 2:
Revert the vSphere cluster from vLCM single-image to independent host management (baselines). Note: This process involves the creation of a new cluster and migrating ESXi hosts from their existing cluster to the new one. See the KB "Revert a vSphere cluster from vLCM single-image to independent host management" in the additional information section below for more information.