VM migration from esxi fails with "Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'startsWith')"

[archw]

I'm trying to migrate an esxi VM to XCP-ng.

The VM is turned off.
"Thin mode" is off
"Stop the source VM" is off 
"Stop on error" is on (also tried with "OFF").

I have tried doing this:
A. through vcenter
B. drive to the esxi host
C. using the IP address in lieu of the dns name.

In each case, as soon as I click "Import" I get the message below.

vm.importMultipleFromEsxi
{
  "concurrency": 2,
  "host": "vcenter.internal.local",
  "network": "ca618529-000b-0c6e-52ba-f6c985134163",
  "password": "* obfuscated *",
  "sr": "b3b03de1-f7d1-92ca-68a4-40370e7649d3",
  "sslVerify": false,
  "stopOnError": true,
  "stopSource": false,
  "thin": false,
  "user": "adminname@vspehere.locall",
  "vms": [
    "vm-2215"
  ]
}
{
  "succeeded": {},
  "message": "Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'startsWith')",
  "name": "TypeError",
  "stack": "TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'startsWith')
    at Esxi.#inspectVmdk (file:///opt/xo/xo-builds/xen-orchestra-202312090402/@xen-orchestra/vmware-explorer/esxi.mjs:209:18)
    at Esxi.getTransferableVmMetadata (file:///opt/xo/xo-builds/xen-orchestra-202312090402/@xen-orchestra/vmware-explorer/esxi.mjs:293:40)
    at Task.runInside (/opt/xo/xo-builds/xen-orchestra-202312090402/@vates/task/index.js:158:22)
    at Task.run (/opt/xo/xo-builds/xen-orchestra-202312090402/@vates/task/index.js:141:20)
    at MigrateVm.migrationfromEsxi (file:///opt/xo/xo-builds/xen-orchestra-202312090402/packages/xo-server/src/xo-mixins/migrate-vm.mjs:177:28)
    at file:///opt/xo/xo-builds/xen-orchestra-202312090402/packages/xo-server/src/api/vm.mjs:1415:30
    at Task.runInside (/opt/xo/xo-builds/xen-orchestra-202312090402/@vates/task/index.js:158:22)
 

   at Task.run (/opt/xo/xo-builds/xen-orchestra-202312090402/@vates/task/index.js:141:20)
    at asyncEach.concurrency.concurrency (file:///opt/xo/xo-builds/xen-orchestra-202312090402/packages/xo-server/src/api/vm.mjs:1413:11)"
}

[florent]

@archw it looks like the VM disk don't have path. Does this VM has a specific storage configuration ?

[archw]

@florent

Its just a normal VM on one of the hosts?

[florent]

@archw thanks,

the vmdk files are ok ? in the same datastore or in another ? do their name contains special characters ?

[archw]

@florent
As far as I know, the vmdk files are fine. The VM fires right up on the esxi host.
The files are local storage to that host ( "[datastore1_host2] VM2022/VM22-2.vmdk")

[archw]

@florent
For the heck of it, I made a new VM in esxi and pointed it to the vmdk file. At that point, xcp-ng would perform the loading conversion process using the new VM setup.

I have no idea what was wrong with the original vmx setup file in esxi.

[kerdiby]

Maybe you can consider to use third-party tools for cross-platform VM migrations. That will be more convenient and efficient.

[olivierlambert]

If this specific VM is causing issue, you can fallback on Clonezilla or something similar