Probably a bit late to help you, but I ran into the same problem after adding a VMKernel NIC to the portgroup in question.

Despite the message, the VM that was apparently 'broken' was still able to use the network interface through that portgroup. I shut the VM down to increase its RAM, but noticed the web interface didn't report the increased size either. After I removed the VMKernel NIC from the group, the correct RAM size was reported, although as far as the GUI was concerned I needed to re-associate the portgroup with the Virtual NIC.

This type of bug doesn't seem very unusual from the javascript GUI - it's not the first time I've seen the properties of a VM get mangled and it almost always crashes and has to be reloaded when I power-on a VM.

For infrastructure that I'm relying on, this kind of thing makes me very nervous.

I had the same issue.. .added a vmKernel .. and a port group that is visible is listed as non-existent.

Anyone have a clue what is going on?

FWIW,

Fresh instalation of ESXi 6.5 u1 inside VMware Workstation Pro 12.5.7 build-5813279. I've created several switches attached to vnics for a lab. I've deleted the default "VM Network" portgroup and created another named "WAN". The vmkernel port is shown under the WAN portgroup and works without problem.

Then, i tried to assign WAN as a portgroup for a vnic on a VM, and it wasn't available. I tried to assign it using PowerCLI with the same results:

C:\> Set-NetworkAdapter -NetworkAdapter $NA -NetworkName $PG

Set-NetworkAdapter : 25-Sep-17 18:17:29 Set-NetworkAdapter The network "WAN" doesn't exist on the host.

At line:1 char:1

+ Set-NetworkAdapter -NetworkAdapter $NA -NetworkName $PG

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : ResourceUnavailable: (WAN:String) [Set-NetworkAdapter], ViError

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Client20_VmHostServiceImpl_TryGetHostNetworkByName_NonexistentNetwork,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdl

   ets.Commands.VirtualDevice.SetNetworkAdapter

C:\> $PG = Get-VirtualPortGroup -Name WAN

C:\> $PG | fl

Name              : WAN

VirtualSwitchId   : key-vim.host.VirtualSwitch-vSwitch0

VirtualSwitchUid  : /VIServer=root@192.168.133.141:443/VMHost=HostSystem-ha-host/VirtualSwitch=key-vim.host.VirtualSwitch-vSwitch0/

VirtualSwitch     : vSwitch0

Key               : key-vim.host.PortGroup-WAN

Port              : {host}

VLanId            : 0

VirtualSwitchName : vSwitch0

VMHostId          : HostSystem-ha-host

VMHostUid         : /VIServer=root@192.168.133.141:443/VMHost=HostSystem-ha-host/

Uid               : /VIServer=root@192.168.133.141:443/VMHost=HostSystem-ha-host/VirtualSwitch=key-vim.host.VirtualSwitch-vSwitch0/Vi

                    rtualPortGroup=key-vim.host.PortGroup-WAN/

ExtensionData     : VMware.Vim.HostPortGroup

Client            : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VimClient

C:\> Get-VirtualSwitch -Name vSwitch0 | fl

Id                : key-vim.host.VirtualSwitch-vSwitch0

Key               : key-vim.host.VirtualSwitch-vSwitch0

Name              : vSwitch0

NumPorts          : 1536

NumPortsAvailable : 1516

Nic               : {vmnic0}

Mtu               : 1500

VMHostId          : HostSystem-ha-host

VMHost            : 192.168.133.141

VMHostUid         : /VIServer=root@192.168.133.141:443/VMHost=HostSystem-ha-host/

Uid               : /VIServer=root@192.168.133.141:443/VMHost=HostSystem-ha-host/VirtualSwitch=key-vim.host.VirtualSwitch-vSwitch0/

ExtensionData     : VMware.Vim.HostVirtualSwitch

Client            : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VimClient

[root@lab:~] esxcfg-vswitch --check vSwitch0

1

[root@lab:~] esxcfg-vswitch  --check-pg=WAN

1

Then i created the porgroup via PowerCLI -instead of the GUI-, and it worked.

I dont know what's going on.

I know this is an old log but there are people who want to know how to fix this.

https://communities.vmware.com/thread/402867

The fix is to delete all old snapshots of all your VMs or Templates and make sure all VMs are on your new portgroups.

Same problem on ESXi 6.5, vSphere 6.5

I was having the same problem. As soon as I added the vmkernel nic to the port group I lost the connection to the VM. The solution I finally found was have multiple port groups for the same vswitch. One portgroup for the vmkernel and another portgroup for the VM clients all on the same vswitch.

vance4c Bravo! Thanks for providing your workaround.