Deploying a virtual machine from OVF fails with the error: Failed to deploy OVF package: Incompatible device backing specified for device '9'

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VMware vCenter Server VMware vSphere ESXi

Symptoms:

Deploying a virtual machine from OVF fails.
You see the error:

Failed to deploy OVF package: Incompatible device backing specified for device '9'.
In C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs\vpxd.log file, you see entries similar to:

YYYY-MM-DDT<time> [00340 error 'VmProv' opID=213086C8-0000BF1F-58-5b-cd-25] [Workflow] Get exception while executing action vpx.vmprov.CreateDestinationVm: vim.fault.InvalidDeviceBacking</time>

--> backtrace[00] rip 000000018018cd7a

--> backtrace[01] rip 0000000180106c48

--> backtrace[02] rip 000000018010803e

--> backtrace[03] rip 00000001800907f8

--> name = "VMName-ovf",

--> vmPathName = "ds:///vmfs/volumes/526ab4f1-a157a6e4-708b-005056032bd9/VM-2008R2-ovf/VM-Name-ovf.vmx",

--> fileName = "ds:///vmfs/volumes/526ab4f1-a157a6e4-708b-005056032bd9/VM-2008R2-ovf/VM-Name-ovf.vmdk",

YYYY-MM-DDT<time> [00340 info 'Default' opID=213086C8-0000BF1F-58-5b-cd-25] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR task-internal-147406 -- -- VmprovWorkflow: vim.fault.InvalidDeviceBacking:</time>

--> Result:

--> (vim.fault.InvalidDeviceBacking) {

--> dynamicType = <unset>,

--> faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,

--> property = "virtualDevice.backing",

--> deviceIndex = 9,

--> msg = "Incompatible device backing specified for device '9'.",

Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.

This is expected behavior and occurs when there is a serial port attached to the original virtual machine / OVF.

To resolve the issue, remove the serial port from the original virtual machine and export to a new OVF.

If the original virtual machine is not available, edit the OVF file and remove the Serial Port Section.

To remove the Serial Port Section:

Navigate to the location of the OVF template.
Create a backup of the templatename.ovf and templatename.mf files.
Open the templatename.ovf file using a text editor.
Locate and remove the Serial Port section and save the templatename.ovf file. The Serial Port section looks similar to:

<Item ovf:required="false">

<rasd:AutomaticAllocation>true</rasd:AutomaticAllocation>

<rasd:ElementName>Serial port 1</rasd:ElementName>

<rasd:InstanceID>12</rasd:InstanceID>

<rasd:ResourceSubType>vmware.serialport.device</rasd:ResourceSubType>

<rasd:ResourceType>21</rasd:ResourceType>

<vmw:Config ovf:required="false" vmw:key="yieldOnPoll" vmw:value="true" />

</Item>
Open the templatename.mf file using a text editor.
Locate the row that contains the SHA1 hash of templatename.ovf and remove this line.
Save the templatename.mf file.
Redeploy the virtual machine using the modified templatename.ovf.

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