How-To : Running the vSphere 4 Client on Microsoft Windows 7 (RTM/Retail)

Running the VMware vSphere 4 client on a Windows 7 machine just doesn’t seem to work. After the Windows 7 RTM version was released, we could use the vSphere Client to connect to an ESX 3.5 host with no problems. However you still cannot connect to a vSphere 4 host. This lesson describes how to "fix" this issue with a workaround that was presented on the VMware Community Forums (thanks to all on that post!). This is a simple and concise way of implementing the "fix" without having to do a lot of changes to your system (some other blogs have shown the more "difficult" route to accomplish this same thing). What is nice about this method is that it’s easily removable and doesn’t change any system settings permanently.

The Error

Here I will show the error when connecting our vSphere client to a vSphere 4 server.

Here is a screenshot of the error. It reads:
Error parsing the server "192.168.70.199" "clients.xml" file. Login will continue, contact your system administrator.
When you click on the "Ok" button, you will get the following error.

This error reads:
The type initializer for ‘VirtualInfrastructure.Utils.HttpWebRequestProxy’ thew an exception.

The Workaround Fix

We have pre-packaged the files that are needed to "fix" (e.g. workaround) this issue.

Download only ONE of the files below per the version of Windows 7 you are using (e.g either 32bit or 64bit).

http://lewanps.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/viclient4_fix_win7-x32-zip.doc (for 32bit)
http://blog.lewan.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/viclient4_fix_win7-x64-zip.doc (for 64bit)

Our blog system won’t allow .zip files so I renamed the files to .doc. Once you download correct file above, RENAME the file to end in a .zip extension and then proceed with the next steps below.

Once you have renamed the file, right click on the file and select "Extract All".

Next, extract the files to the location below:
For 32bit, extract to: C:Program FilesVMwareInfrastructure
For 64bit, extract to: C:Program Files (x86)VMwareInfrastructure
In our screenshot, we’re extracting to a 32bit system.
Check the box that says to "Show extracted files when complete".

You will get a few "Confirm Folder Replace" options. Check the box that says "Do this for all current items" and then click on the "Yes" button to continue.

Now select the "Do this for the next conflicts" checkmark. Then select the "Copy and Replace" option. We are basically replacing 2 simple configuration files for the vSphere client and for Update Manager. The changes are simple and easy to remove once this issue has been resolved by VMware.

Next select the checkmark for "Do this for all current items" and then select the "Continue" button. Windows is asking for "admin level" permission to replace the files that we told it to in the previous step.

New Program Links

After the extraction happens, a box will appear like the one in the screenshot. The two links for the vSphere Client and for the vSphere Update Client are NEW links that will need to be used to launch either program. Feel free to copy these links to your desktop or Start Menu. You MUST use these new links in order for the clients to work.

Connected!

Launch the vSphere Client using the link described in the previous step. Type in your vSphere Servers’ IP address, your login and password, and viola! you should now connect. Once connected, you can click on the "Inventory" link to see the vSphere server.

Here is your vSphere server, using the vSphere Client on Windows 7!