The vCenter Server is unable to decrypt passwords stored in the customization specification.

Problem

Following a vCenter upgrade, Commander® deployments that rely on customization specifications fail, and the error message œThe vCenter Server is unable to decrypt passwords stored in the customization specification.� appears in the comment logs for the request.

This occurs because the upgrade changes the self-signed certificate and/or encryption keys, so that the access or decryption no longer works.

Solution

To resolve the issue, you must be able to login to vCenter with sufficient access to customization specifications. Follow the procedure below.

From the Home screen, choose Customization Specification Manager.
Right-click the customization specification you need to update, and choose Edit….
Proceed through the wizard to the Administrator Password page and re-enter the password.
Complete the wizard as appropriate and retry your vCommander deployments.
In some cases, it may be necessary to completely delete and recreate the customization specifications before vCommander deployments will return to normal operations.

See Also
(VMware) 1019893 – Virtual machines with customizations fail to deploy when using Custom SSL Certificates
(VMware) 1857 – Deploying a template with customization from a remote client fails