Troubleshooting Ansible and VMware: Resolving 'Failed to import PyVmomi library' Error

When working with Ansible and VMware, you may encounter an error message similar to the following:

msg: Failed to import the required Python library (PyVmomi) on <hostname>'s Python <path/to/python>. Please read the module documentation and install it in the appropriate location. If the required library is installed, but Ansible is using the wrong Python interpreter, please consult the documentation on ansible_python_interpreter.

This error message indicates that Ansible is unable to import the required Python library PyVmomi when running a playbook. This library is required to interact with VMware virtualization products.

To resolve this issue, you should first ensure that the PyVmomi library is installed in the appropriate location. You can use pip to install the library:

pip install pyvmomi

Next, you should verify that Ansible is using the correct version of Python and pip. The error message may indicate that Ansible is using the wrong Python interpreter or version of pip. You can check which version of Python Ansible is using by running the ansible --version command and looking for the ansible_python_interpreter line in the output. If the interpreter is incorrect, you can set the correct interpreter path using the ansible_python_interpreter variable in your playbook or in your inventory file.
It's also important to ensure that you are using the correct version of pip to install packages. If you have multiple versions of Python installed, you may also have multiple versions of pip. You can check the version of pip you are using with the pip --version command. If you are using the wrong version of pip, you can switch to the correct version using the appropriate command for your operating system.

If the issue persists, you may need to uninstall any conflicting libraries or packages, such as pyvim, and try reinstalling PyVmomi to ensure that there are no conflicts or version mismatches.

By following these steps, you can resolve the Failed to import the required Python library error message and ensure that Ansible is using the correct Python interpreter and version of pip for installing packages.