With the release of vCenter 7 Update 1, VMware introuced the vCLS (vSphere Clustering Service). More information can be found here.

Recent Tasks shows Power On vCLS with Insufficient resources error.

Looking at the error details it looks like it is looking for a feature called cpuid.mwait

Error stack shows ‘MWAIT’ feature absent, needed for vCLS startup.

Reviewing the VMX file it seems like EVC is enabled on the vCLS VMs. I didnt want to enable EVC on the whole cluster so i wanted to do it only on the specific VMs.

Doing some research i found that the VMs need to be at version 14. After upgrading the VM i was able to disable EVC on the specific VMs by following these steps:

In the vSphere Client, navigate to the virtual machine

vCLS VM summary shows insufficient resources, CPU: 1, Memory: 0.13 GB, managed by vCenter Server.

Under the Actions -> Compatibility -> Upgrade VM compatibility

The image shows the “Actions” dropdown menu with options like “Power,” “Guest OS,” and “Snapshots.

We can disable EVC on per VM level on version 14 and above, so in my case i chose ESXi 6.7 and later

Configure VM Compatibility settings, showing compatibility options for ESXi versions.

Next go to the Configure Tab

The image shows the Configure tab in vCLS with options like VM SDRS Rules, vApp Options, and Policies.

Pick VMware EVC and click on Edit

Configure VMware EVC settings, showing CPU mode and feature set.

Click on Yes

Error warning about vSphere Cluster Services VMs impacting health. Click Yes to proceed.

Click on Disable EVC and Click OK

The image shows a “Change EVC Mode” wizard step with options to disable EVC or enable it for AMD or Intel hosts.

The next time it tries to power on the VM it should go through.

Power On virtual machine task shows “vCLS (2)” and “Completed” status.

Once the first VM starts up it will most likely deploy a few additional ones, follow the same steps as above again on the new VMs