Running VMware vSphere Client on Windows 7

If you are upgrading to Windows 7 and plan on running VMware's vSphere client, you may experience the following error when you try to run the app:

“Error parsing the server “

After you click OK, you may see the following message:

“The type initializer for ‘VirtualInfrastructure.Utils.HttpWebRequestProxy’ threw an exception.”

With the assistance of other blogs and forums, I was able to resolved the issue. Here is a summary of what was needed to make vSphere Client work properly on Windows 32bit.

• Download the following file:
• http://communities.vmware.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/1266347-23412/v4on7.zip
• Create a folder named Lib in Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrasturcture Client\Launcher\
• Copy System.dll to c:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib\
• Rename VpxClient.exe.config in c:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\ to whatever you choose.
• Copy downloaded VpxClient.exe.config to c:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\
• Using Notepad, create a file named VpxCleint.cmd. This file should contain the following information:

SET DEVPATH=%ProgramFiles%\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib "%ProgramFiles%\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\VpxClient.exe"

• Save the newly created file to c:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\
• Use this file to open the vSphere app instead of the one created by the vSphere client install.

Installing Windows 64bit on VMware ESX 3.5

I ran into a issue a while back when atttempting to install Windows 2003 x64 on VMware EXS 3.5. I ran into the following error:

"Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause... File: \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe Status: 0xc000035a Info: Attempting to load a 64-bit application, however this CPU is not compatible with 64-bit mode."

The server was a Dell 2950 and I had Windows 2003 64x installed on it before I decided to to make is a VM Ware server. After digging a little bit I was able to find the issue.

In order to run a 64bit application on ESX 3.5 you must first enable VT extensions in the systems BIOS first.

• Power down the server and boot into BIOS mode.
• In BIOS go into Advanced Properties.
• Enable VT Extensions.
• Save your settings.
• Cold boot your system. (This is important. A warm boot does not put VT Extensions into effect).
• Go into VMware as usual and install your 64 bit OS.

Changing the SID on a Windows 2003 server

I have imaged countless computers over the years. In the past after the computer was imaged I would fire up the comptuer and run SysPrep to reset the SID (Computer Security Identifier). This would work fine but it would require me to go through the initial Windows setup again.

Recently I have been getting more involved with server virtualization using VMWare. I have created a couple of basic Windows 2003 virtual images. I knew when I deployed them I would need to reset the SID on the new virtual server.

After poking around I found NewSID on Microsoft's TechNet site. NewSID is a small executable that will reset your SID. It gives you the option to set a random SID, copy a SID from another comptuer or specify the SID. It will also allow you to change the current computer name.

My inital testing of it appears to be pretty positive. I have it on my basic virtual images. After I power up the virtual server for the first time I run NewSID. The basic virtual image network card is also setup to use DHCP so I wont run into IP conflicts.

I found NewSID by going to: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897418.aspx