vSphere vCenter 4.1 installation “Failed to verify the service account”

Question

When I am installing vSphere vCenter 4.1 on Windows Server 2008 R2, when it gets to the stage to enter the service account name and password, I can't change the username, and I keep getting the following error message:

Failed to verify the service account. Error code: [87] : Error message: [The parameter is incorrect. ]

What can I do? I know that the username exists on the domain and that the password is correct

Answer 1

This is because vSphere vCenter 4.1 has an apparent installation bug where it does not detect your domain, and is trying to authenticate your username against the local machine, not your domain.

To work around this, go to Start > Run > lusrmgr.msc and create a new user with the exact same username and password as your domain account. Add this user to the local Administrator group.

Then, vSphere will permit you to enter the password and continue the installation.

After the installation is complete, you will need to go to the Services control panel (Start > Run > services.msc), right-click on all the VMWare services that have that username specified and change the username to [domain]\[username] (otherwise they will run under the local non-domain account and you may have access issues).

Credit where it's due, the VMWare Forums are very helpful in this topic.