How do you get the VMWare vSphere client to work on Windows 7 RC?

Question

When trying to connect to a ESXi server using the VMWare vShere Client I get an error:

Error parsing the server "server" "clients.xml" file.
Login will continue, contact your system administrator.

Followed by:

The type initializer for 'VirtualInfrastructure.Utils.HttpWebRequestProxy' threw an exception.

Any clues to fix this?

Windows 7 x64 RC Build 7100
vSphere client from ESXi 4.0.0 ReleaseBuild-171294

Thank you,
Keith

Answer 1

Theres a update of the VMware vSphere Client and Host Update Utility available now directly from VM that fixes this issue without hacking your OS.

Look for Version 4.0 Update 1 | 208111 - 11/19/09

Answer 2

There is a thread on the VMware communities site that details the troubles with getting it working as well as workarounds

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/211440

There is a solution in that thread involving .NET assemblies, etc.

Answer 3

Because this took me ages to figure this out, mainly because I didn't read the second page of the thread here are the steps for Windows 7 x64, taken almost entirely from here.

1. On a non Winodws 7 64-bit install of windows

   %SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\System.dll

   to

   C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib

   on the Windows 7 computer.
2. Edit VpxClient.exe.config to match the following:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
   <configuration>
   <system.net>
   <connectionManagement>
   <clear/>
   <add address="*" maxconnection="8" />
   </connectionManagement>
   </system.net>
   <appSettings>
   <add key = "protocolports" value = "https:443"/>
   </appSettings>
   <runtime>
   <developmentMode developerInstallation="true"/>
   </runtime>         
   </configuration>
   

3. Create a batch file with the following contents:

   SET DEVPATH=C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib
   "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\VpxClient.exe"

Answer 4

I had to use:

copy "%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\System.dll" "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib"

...because "C:\Program Files (x64)" didn't exist on my system.

Answer 5

vSphere client was working on my Windows Server 2008 x64 workstation, but now that I've upgraded to Windows 2008 R2 x64 and I'm getting the same symptoms as those reporting issues with Windows 7. Unfortunately, this Windows 7 trick doesn't seem to be working on Win2008R2.

Answer 6

Windows 7 32 bit

Access is denied.

C:\Users\a>COPY "C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\System.dll" "C:\P rogram Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib" Access is denied. 0 file(s) copied.

Answer 7

You will get the same problem on Windows XP if you updated the .net framework. You can install the vSphere Client 4.0 update 1 or later to fix it.

External VMWare article