vCenter VM cannot be moved outside Discovered Virtual Machine folder

[42vim]

Hello all,

I've got one question regarding vCenter folders. I've read that you should be able to move VMs, unless you don't have the permissions to do it.

I have my vCenter machine inside of a "Discovered Virtual Machine", and I'd like to move it outside. However, when I try to do it an error modal appears saying the "Move to: action is unavailable".

All permissions are set in the same way as other VMs that I can freely move.

I attach some information regarding the version vCenter machine is running on.

Thank you so much.

[mbufkin]

Have you checked the roles for the account you are using? Can you move them with administrator@vsphere.local?

[42vim]

Thanks for your answer. I am logged in as administrator@vsphere.local (where vsphere.local is my domain). It is not a local account.

Regarding the roles, I have the Administrator one.

[robc_yk]

The only time I have seen something similar is if you are trying to move the VM to a different cluster of ESX hosts.

Looking at the host view for the VM, can you confirm that the folder you are trying to move it into is within the same cluster set?

[42vim]

Yes. I've tried moving VMs with similar characteristics and they worked. vCenter doesn't...

This is the template view. I was able to change even the folder name but not moving it...

[42vim]

Hello. Does someone know anything regarding this topic? Thanks!

[compdigit44]

This is odd, you could try the following if you have a backup of your VCSA.

1) Make note of the host and data tore the VCSA is on.

2) Power it off

3) Remove it from "inventory"

4) Add the VM back to inventory and select a different folder

5) Power it on

6) Try to moved the VCSA between folders.

This is a long shot........

[42vim]

Hello. Thank you for your response. It may sound ridiculous but, how can I remove the VM from the inventory if vCenter is offline? Should I do it from the vSphere client? Thank you so much!

[Ajay1988]

It should work. Under VM and Templates View ; just drag and drop the VM to the Datacenter or any other folder . 

[42vim]

Hello @Ajay1988, thank you so much for your response. Sadly, the problem persists and the VM cannot be moved outside of the folder, to any folder. I can rename the folder, I can move other VMs inside and outside of that folder or other folders. It's vCenter the one that is not movable.

I've upgraded the vCenter version to the latest patch, just in case it was something related to versioning, and it still doesn't work. I've changed the Guest OS to Photon OS 64bit as well and checked carefully the configuration with other VMs that I can move, they are pretty much identical.

Is there any CLI way maybe of moving them? Thank you so much!

[compdigit44]

You can use Powercli to move the VM to a different folder. See the following link for further information.

https://vdc-repo.vmware.com/vmwb-repository/dcr-public/538b0256-c152-4c10-b092-7dc05fd55cd7/52d93c1f...

[MaxB]

haha as I started reading this thread my first thought was to use powercli to get further information.

In several cases i received more detailed information than in the Ui. 

[robc_yk]

Check what host it is running on and make a move attempt on the local host, not through vCenter, so logged into the local host's gui?

[compdigit44]

Yes that is what I am referring to...