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VictorSudakov
Contributor
Contributor

Cannot download VMware-viclient.exe from the ESXi main page

Colleagues,

After a successful install of the ESXi 3.5.0 Update 3 I can open its main page in the browser but cannot download the VMware-viclient.exe from it. When I click the link "Download VMware Infrastructure Client", nothing happens. I have looked in the syslog and there is nothing relevant there. Other links like "Web-Based Datastore Browser" work fine. Why is that?

Thanks in advance for any input.

--

Victor Sudakov, VAS4-RIPE, VAS47-RIPN

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

You may have had a problem during the install. The file should located here on your install /store/packages/3.5.0/client/VMware-viclient.exe. You could enable SSH ( unsupported ) and then check that it's there and optionally download it.

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VictorSudakov
Contributor
Contributor

You may have had a problem during the install.

It is very alarming. Do you mean to say I have a broken installation? There were no warnings during install. Should I expect other problems?

The file should located here on your install /store/packages/3.5.0/client/VMware-viclient.exe.You could enable SSH ( unsupported ) and then check that it's there and optionally download it.

It is all very strange:

~ # find / -name VMware-viclient.exe

/usr/lib/vmware/hostd/docroot/client/VMware-viclient.exe

/vmfs/volumes/3abb47ef-875ea67c-c948-7bf6ff8d3c38/packages/3.5.0/client/VMware-viclient.exe

~ # ls -al /usr/lib/vmware/hostd/docroot/client/VMware-viclient.exe

l----


0 root root 1984 Jan 1 1970 /usr/lib/vmware/hostd/docroot/client/VMware-viclient.exe -> /productLocker/client/VMware-viclient.exe

~ # ls -al /productLocker/client/VMware-viclient.exe

ls: /productLocker/client/VMware-viclient.exe: No such file or directory

~ #

So, "/usr/lib/vmware/hostd/docroot/client/VMware-viclient.exe" is a broken symlink and the directory "/productLocker" does not exist.

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VictorSudakov
Contributor
Contributor

Update.

/productLocker does exist, but there is a mess of symbolic links eventually leading to an empty directory:

~ # ls -al /productLocker

l----


0 root root 1984 Jan 1 1970 /productLocker -> /locker/packages/3.5.0

~ # cd /productLocker

-ash: cd: can't cd to /productLocker

~ # ls -al /locker

l----


0 root root 1984 Jan 1 1970 /locker -> /vmfs/volumes/49ad143c-aa6aaa06-eb97-00215aeb8784

~ # cd /locker

/vmfs/volumes/49ad143c-aa6aaa06-eb97-00215aeb8784 # ls packages/

/vmfs/volumes/49ad143c-aa6aaa06-eb97-00215aeb8784 #

Is my installation screwed? Should I reinstall?

From my previous post it is clear that VMware-viclient.exe physically resides on /vmfs/volumes/3abb47ef-875ea67c-c948-7bf6ff8d3c38/

but the symlink for some reason points to /vmfs/volumes/49ad143c-aa6aaa06-eb97-00215aeb8784

I think I could just fix the symlink but I want to know the reason behing this error, and if this is the only error in my installation.

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

I'd reinstall. What sort of hardware are you using?

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VictorSudakov
Contributor
Contributor

I'd reinstall.

OMG

What sort of hardware are you using?

HP ProLiant DL380 G5, 2x4 CPUs, 4 GB RAM

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VictorSudakov
Contributor
Contributor

I think I have found the source of the problem.

I removed one of the HDDs used as additional storage, and the link to VMware-viclient.exe became functional again. What was wrong with that particular HDD? It contained an ESXi bootable (system) partition left over from the previous (trial) installation.

Conclusion. If a HDD contains an ESXi system partition, never mount it as additional storage on another ESXi installation. First destroy the data on it. I think wiping the HDD with zeroes is a good idea, it worked for me.

Why is a stray system partition so evil? I don't know. I think it is time for the VMWare team to comment.

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