The script below is used to storage vmotion Templates by first converting them into VMs, migrate them, then convert them back again to a template. Strangely, the Move-VM command starts a storage migration, as viewed in the vCenter GUI, however it also errors out!?? I cannot figure out why it is doing this! And it seems to be doing it with all my templates.

I tested this from a PowerShell command line and the PowerShell IDE- same result.

Function:

function Move-VMTemplate
    {
    # This function will migrate a template VM to the target datastore.
    # The template is first converted to a VM,
    # then migrated, then converted back to a template.
    param(
        [string] $TemplateName, 
        [string] $DatastoreName
        )

 #   Try
 #       {
        if($TemplateName -eq ""){Write-Host "Enter a Template name"}
        if($DatastoreName -ne ""){$svmotion = $true}

        # Firstly, verify we have a target datastore presented to the vCenter:
        $TargetDS = Get-Datastore $DatastoreName -ErrorAction Stop

        Write-Host "$LineItem2 Converting to VM." -ForegroundColor DarkCyan
        # Convert the template to a VM.
        $oTemplateAsVM = Set-Template -Template (Get-Template $TemplateName) -ToVM -ErrorAction Stop

        Write-Host "$LineItem2 Migrate template to target datastore." -ForegroundColor DarkCyan
        # Move the VM to the target datastore.
    
        $MoveVMToDS = Move-VM -VM (Get-VM $oTemplateAsVM) -Datastore ($TargetDS) -Confirm:$false -ErrorAction Stop
        # Move-VMThin (Get-VM $oTemplateAsVM) (Get-Datastore $fDatastore)

        Write-Host "$LineItem2 Converting VM to template." -ForegroundColor DarkCyan
        # Convert the VM back to a template.
        (Get-VM $oTemplateAsVM | Get-View).MarkAsTemplate() | Out-Null
        Write-Host "$LineItem2 Conversion done." -ForegroundColor Green
 #       }

<#    Catch
        {
        Write-Host "$LineItem2 Error: $($PSItem.ToString())." -ForegroundColor Red
        Write-Host "$LineItem2 Skipping template [$TemplateName]." -ForegroundColor Red
        }
 #>   }

I took out the Try/Catch just to see if I could get more info.

The function is called with this line:

$MoveVMTemplate = Move-VMTemplate -template $TemplateName -datastore $NewDatastoreName

Here are the values of the variables:

$TemplateName
nashadow_RHEL6.5-x64_SOE_v1.1_mgt_t1_syd_vmdata_0001

$NewDatastoreName
mgt_t1_syd_vmdata_0003

$TargetDS
Name                               FreeSpaceGB      CapacityGB
----                               -----------      ----------
mgt_t1_syd_vmdata_0003           4,659.154       4,680.000

(Get-VM $oTemplateAsVM)
Name                 PowerState Num CPUs MemoryGB       
----                 ---------- -------- --------       
nashadow_RHEL6.5-... PoweredOff 1        2.000          

 Template is currently sitting on datastore "mgt_t1_syd_vmdata_0001 ".

When the Move-VM line executes, a new task appears in the vCenter GUI showing the VM being migrated, and it completes without issues, however the script produces the following error:

$PSItem
Move-VM : 22/04/2023 6:01:33 PM	Move-VM		Operation is not valid due to the current state of the object.	
At C:\Users\jmilano\Documents\PowerShell_Scripts\Datastores\2023-03-04 NetApp Datastore Migration\Storage-MigrateTemplates.ps1:102 char:23
+ ... oveVMToDS = Move-VM -VM (Get-VM $oTemplateAsVM) -Datastore ($TargetDS ...
+                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Move-VM], VimException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_BaseCmdlet_UnknownError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.MoveVM

The "CS/DVD Drive 1" is set to "Client Device" and not connected. The Template has one 60GB hard disk.

I can manually migrate the template once converted to a VM, using the vCenter GUI without issues. I can then migrate it back to its original datastore.

$PSVersionTable.PSVersion

Major  Minor  Build  Revision
-----  -----  -----  --------
5      1      14393  5582    

$PSVersionTable

Name                           Value                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
----                           -----                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
PSVersion                      5.1.14393.5582                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
PSEdition                      Desktop                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}                                                                                                                                                                                                          
BuildVersion                   10.0.14393.5582                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
WSManStackVersion              3.0                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1