diff --git a/test/infrastructure/vcsim/controllers/vcsim_controller.go b/test/infrastructure/vcsim/controllers/vcsim_controller.go
index c6ee494535..fe675b7ccd 100644
--- a/test/infrastructure/vcsim/controllers/vcsim_controller.go
+++ b/test/infrastructure/vcsim/controllers/vcsim_controller.go
@@ -269,8 +269,8 @@ func createGovmomiFailureDomainTags(vCenterSimulator *vcsimv1.VCenterSimulator)
 	datacenterName := vcsimhelpers.DatacenterName(0)
 	computeClusterName := vcsimhelpers.ClusterName(0, 0)
 	commands := [][]string{
-		{"tags.category.create", govcURLArg, "-d", "\"Kubernetes region\"", "-t=Datacenter", "k8s-region"},
-		{"tags.category.create", govcURLArg, "-d", "\"Kubernetes zone\"", "k8s-zone"},
+		{"tags.category.create", govcURLArg, "-t=Datacenter", "k8s-region"},
+		{"tags.category.create", govcURLArg, "k8s-zone"},
 		{"tags.create", govcURLArg, "-c", "k8s-region", datacenterName},
 		{"tags.create", govcURLArg, "-c", "k8s-zone", computeClusterName},
 		{"tags.attach", govcURLArg, "-c", "k8s-region", datacenterName, "/" + datacenterName},