diff --git a/vmware-base/src/main/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/vmware/mo/VirtualMachineMO.java b/vmware-base/src/main/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/vmware/mo/VirtualMachineMO.java
index 950ec9010cbd..fd6ad8e6aa57 100644
--- a/vmware-base/src/main/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/vmware/mo/VirtualMachineMO.java
+++ b/vmware-base/src/main/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/vmware/mo/VirtualMachineMO.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
 import java.net.URLEncoder;
@@ -1466,7 +1467,11 @@ public void attachDisk(String[] vmdkDatastorePathChain, ManagedObjectReference m
             VirtualDevice newDisk = VmwareHelper.prepareDiskDevice(this, null, controllerKey, vmdkDatastorePathChain, morDs, unitNumber, 1, maxIops);
             if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(diskController)) {
                 String vmdkFileName = vmdkDatastorePathChain[0];
-                updateVmdkAdapter(vmdkFileName, diskController);
+                try {
+                    updateVmdkAdapter(vmdkFileName, diskController);
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    logger.warn("Unable to verify/update adapter type for VMDK file " + vmdkFileName + " due to a datastore browser I/O failure, proceeding with disk attach: " + e.getMessage(), e);
+                }
             }
             VirtualMachineConfigSpec reConfigSpec = new VirtualMachineConfigSpec();
             VirtualDeviceConfigSpec deviceConfigSpec = new VirtualDeviceConfigSpec();
diff --git a/vmware-base/src/test/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/vmware/mo/VirtualMachineMOTest.java b/vmware-base/src/test/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/vmware/mo/VirtualMachineMOTest.java
index 570f2a7b4a16..b1ec1ef90b8f 100644
--- a/vmware-base/src/test/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/vmware/mo/VirtualMachineMOTest.java
+++ b/vmware-base/src/test/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/vmware/mo/VirtualMachineMOTest.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import com.cloud.hypervisor.vmware.util.VmwareContext;
 import com.cloud.utils.exception.CloudRuntimeException;
 import com.vmware.vim25.ManagedObjectReference;
+import com.vmware.vim25.VimPortType;
 import com.vmware.vim25.VirtualDevice;
 import com.vmware.vim25.VirtualLsiLogicController;
 import com.vmware.vim25.VirtualLsiLogicSASController;
@@ -37,11 +38,21 @@
 import org.mockito.MockitoAnnotations;
 import org.mockito.junit.MockitoJUnitRunner;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.anyInt;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.anyString;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.eq;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doReturn;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doThrow;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.lenient;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
 @RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
@@ -135,4 +146,50 @@ public void testGetVmxFormattedVirtualHardwareVersionTwoDigits() {
     public void testGetVmxFormattedVirtualHardwareVersionInvalid() {
         VirtualMachineMO.getVmxFormattedVirtualHardwareVersion(-1);
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testAttachDiskSucceedsWhenAdapterTypeUpdateFails() throws Exception {
+        VirtualMachineMO spyVmMo = spy(vmMo);
+        ManagedObjectReference morDs = mock(ManagedObjectReference.class);
+        ManagedObjectReference morTask = mock(ManagedObjectReference.class);
+        VimPortType service = mock(VimPortType.class);
+
+        doReturn(1).when(spyVmMo).getScsiDiskControllerKey(anyString());
+        doReturn(200).when(spyVmMo).getIDEDeviceControllerKey();
+        doReturn(0).when(spyVmMo).getNextDeviceNumber(anyInt());
+        doThrow(new IOException("HTTP 500 from vCenter datastore browser")).when(spyVmMo).updateVmdkAdapter(anyString(), anyString());
+
+        when(mor.getValue()).thenReturn("vm-1");
+        when(context.getService()).thenReturn(service);
+        when(service.reconfigVMTask(eq(mor), any())).thenReturn(morTask);
+        when(client.waitForTask(morTask)).thenReturn(true);
+
+        spyVmMo.attachDisk(new String[]{"[ds] i-2-3-VM/data.vmdk"}, morDs, "pvscsi", null, null);
+
+        verify(spyVmMo).updateVmdkAdapter(eq("[ds] i-2-3-VM/data.vmdk"), eq("pvscsi"));
+        verify(service).reconfigVMTask(eq(mor), any());
+        verify(client).waitForTask(morTask);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = Exception.class)
+    public void testAttachDiskFailsWhenAdapterTypeIsInvalid() throws Exception {
+        VirtualMachineMO spyVmMo = spy(vmMo);
+        ManagedObjectReference morDs = mock(ManagedObjectReference.class);
+        ManagedObjectReference morTask = mock(ManagedObjectReference.class);
+        VimPortType service = mock(VimPortType.class);
+
+        doReturn(1).when(spyVmMo).getScsiDiskControllerKey(anyString());
+        doReturn(200).when(spyVmMo).getIDEDeviceControllerKey();
+        doReturn(0).when(spyVmMo).getNextDeviceNumber(anyInt());
+        doThrow(new Exception("Failed to attach disk due to invalid vmdk adapter type")).when(spyVmMo).updateVmdkAdapter(anyString(), anyString());
+
+        when(mor.getValue()).thenReturn("vm-1");
+        // Lenient: these mirror the success path and are only reached if the
+        // invalid-adapter-type exception is (incorrectly) swallowed by attachDisk.
+        lenient().when(context.getService()).thenReturn(service);
+        lenient().when(service.reconfigVMTask(eq(mor), any())).thenReturn(morTask);
+        lenient().when(client.waitForTask(morTask)).thenReturn(true);
+
+        spyVmMo.attachDisk(new String[]{"[ds] i-2-3-VM/data.vmdk"}, morDs, "pvscsi", null, null);
+    }
 }