vSphere Client on Win7

Update: This page is outdated. On the 19th of November, 2009, VMware released VMware vSphere 4 Update 1. This release included an update to the vSphere Client, which makes it compatible with Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2. You can download the client here.

Note that I left the original instructions, needed to get the pre-Update-1 version of the Client working below. They are not needed for the Update 1 version.

Update: The VMware KB team has released KB1011329, “Cannot launch vSphere Client after installing in Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2″, which basically explains the exact same workaround as I do below.

The best read blog post on Virtual Lifestyle is definitely VMware vSphere Client on Microsoft Windows 7!. Along with VMware vSphere Host Update Utility 4.0 on Microsoft Windows 7!, I explain how to get the VMware vSphere Client running on Microsoft Windows 7. To make it easy on everyone, I created a separate page from these posts. Now you don’t have to wade through the rest of my content to get to this post.

Running the VMware vSphere Client on Microsoft Windows 7

Automated with a PowerShell script

First off, I’ve attempted to automate this with my first ever PowerShell script. Download the script that does it all for you here. Please run this script with administrative rights (i.e. ‘Run as Administrator’). This script will work for x64 (64-bit) versions of Windows 7.

The manual steps are:

Copy System.dll (%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\) from a non-Windows 7 system with Microsoft .NET 3.5 SP1 installed to the Windows 7 system (or download it here).
Place the file in C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib\.
Edit the VpxClient.exe.config file (C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\). You’ll need to do this as an administrator. Alternatively, you can download the edited file here. Add the red bit like this:

<?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>

Make sure that the quotation marks are the correct ones (i.e. (“), not any of these (′) (″) (”) (“) (’) (‘) (´)), and that the <runtime> … <runtime> bit is in between the <configuration> … <configuration> part.

Add the DEVPATH variable via Control Panel → System → Advanced System Settings → Environment Variables to the User Variables. My layout prevents me from displaying the text in a single line. Please copy the text below to notepad, make a single line of it, and add is as a variable:

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

Reboot.

Running the VMware vSphere Host Update Utility on Microsoft Windows 7

Automated with a PowerShell script

With the script mentioned above, you’re all set. This script will also do the steps described below.

The manual steps are:

Copy VpxClient.exe.config to C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\VIUpdate 4.0\.
Rename VpxClient.exe.config to VIUApp.exe.config

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