The host does not have access to sufficient storage of the requested classification error when migrating a VM

This article helps you fix an issue in which you receive The host does not have access to sufficient storage of the requested classification error when you migrate a virtual machine between two stand-alone hosts.

Original product version:   System Center 2016 Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager
Original KB number:   2823834

Symptoms

When you use System Center 2016 Virtual Machine Manager (VMM 2016) or VMM 2012 to migrate a virtual machine (VM) between two stand-alone hosts, the operation fails with the following error:

The host does not have access to sufficient storage of the requested classification for one or more virtual disks associated with virtual machine <VM_NAME>.

Cause

It can occur if the virtual machine on the source host is located on storage that is classified as Remote, and if the target host doesn't also have storage that is classified as Remote (that is, if it has access only to storage that is classified as Local). In versions of VMM earlier than VMM 2012 SP1, VM migrations from Remote storage to Local storage aren't supported.

Workaround

To work around this issue, migrate the storage of the virtual machine to the same source host's Local storage classification. After you do it, the VM migration between the stand-alone hosts shouldn't be blocked.

More information

In System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager Service Pack 1 (SP1) and later versions, you'll continue to see this error message. However a change was made in the placement wizard to remove the blocking condition and enable you to select the Next button to complete the migration anyway.