Error: "A general system error occurred: vDS host error: see faultCause Cannot create DVPort <Port ID> of VDS <DVS Name> on the host <Hostname>" when attempting to remove ESXi host from vCenter inventory

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• ESXi hosts that are powered off and physically removed from the environment cannot be removed from the vCenter inventory.
• Unable to remove ESXi hosts from the vSphere Client.
• The following errors may occur when removing or editing the host in the vCenter: "A general system error occurred: vDS host error: see faultCause Cannot create DVPort ### of VDS <DISTRIBUTED SWITCH NAME> on the host <hostname.example.com>".
  
  

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x
VMware vCenter Server 7.x
VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

Stale virtual machines or templates remain registered to the vCenter through the ESXi host that is being removed.

To verify this:

1. Log into the vSphere Client.
2. Navigate to the Hosts and Clusters tab.
3. Select the ESXi host from the Inventory.
4. Click on the "VMs" tab.
5. Click on the "Virtual machines" and "VM Templates" tab.

Resolution

1. Unregister the virtual machine templates from the inventory by following the Remove VMs or VM Templates from vCenter Server document.
2. If stale virtual machines are present, refer to KB Manually removing a stale VM from the vCenter Server vpostgres database for instructions to manually remove them from the vCenter database.
3. Retry the "Remove Host" operation once all virtual machine templates and stale virtual machines are unregistered from the affected host.

Additional Information

Review the following documentation for the correct process to remove an ESXi host from a vCenter environment: How to Remove an ESXi Host from Your vCenter Server Instance.