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“SECUREBOOT: Image DENIED.” – Linux VMs created with Hardware version 20 will fail to start installation when Secure Boot is enabled (88737)

Important KB90947 Symptoms

After installing Windows Server 2022 update KB5022842 (OS Build 20348.1547), guest OS can not boot up when virtual machine(s) configured with secure boot enabled running on vSphere ESXi 6.7 U2/U3 or vSphere ESXi 7.0.x.

In VM vmware.log, there is ‘Image DENIED’ info like the below:

2023-02-15T05:34:31.379Z In(05) vcpu-0 - SECUREBOOT: Signature: 0 in db, 0 in dbx, 1 unrecognized, 0 unsupported alg.
2023-02-15T05:34:31.379Z In(05) vcpu-0 - Hash: 0 in db, 0 in dbx.
2023-02-15T05:34:31.379Z In(05) vcpu-0 - SECUREBOOT: Image DENIED.

To identify the location of vmware.log files:

1. Establish an SSH session to your host. For ESXi hosts
2. Log in to the ESXi Host CLI using root account.
3. To list the locations of the configuration files for the virtual machines registered on the host, run the below command:

#vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | grep -i "VM_Name"

4. The vmware.log file is located in virtual machine folder along with the vmx file.
5. Record the location of the .vmx configuration file for the virtual machine you are troubleshooting. For example:

/vmfs/volumes/xxxxxxxx-xxxxxxx-c1d2-111122223333/vm1/vm1.vmx
/vmfs/volumes/xxxxxxxx-xxxxxxx-c1d2-111122223333/vm1/vmware.log

Resolution

Currently there is no resolution for virtual machines running on vSphere ESXi 6.7 U2/U3 and vSphere ESXi 7.0.x. However the issue doesn’t exist with virtual machines running on vSphere ESXi 8.0.x.

Note: vSphere ESXi 6.7 is End of general Support. For more information, see The End of General Support for vSphere 6.5 and vSphere 6.7 is October 15, 2022.

Workaround

There are three methods to avoid this issue

1. Upgrade the ESXi Host where the virtual machine in question is running to vSphere ESXi 8.0
2. Disable “Secure Boot” on the VMs.
3. Do not install the KB5022842 patch on any Windows 2022 Server virtual machine until the issue is resolved.

See the Microsoft article for details on the updates within the patch release

To disable virtual machine “Secure Boot “option, please follow the below steps:

1. Power off the VM.
2. Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
3. Click the VM Options tab.
4. Under Boot Option, uncheck the “Secure Boot enabled“

Related Information

Uninstalling the KB5022842 patch will not resolve the issue. If the Virtual machine has already been updated, then the only available options are
 

1. Upgrade the ESXi Host where the virtual machine in question is running to vSphere ESXi 8.0
2. Disable “Secure Boot” on the VMs.