On a Vista machine that was in-place upgraded to Windows 7 RTM, the VI 2.5 client (used to manage my old VMware Server 2.0 install) installed and ran without issue. (It was uninstalled at the request of the Win7 Compatibility Wizard)

After installing the vSphere client, it stopped working.

Since I made a copy of the Launcher folder from the VI2.5 install, I tried running it from there again and Launcher worked for the Server 2.0 but since the older launcher doesn't know how to interpret the client.xml file from vSphere, it did not work w/ ESX 4.

From a cursory look at the changes to the Launcher, it appears that the following has changed:

1) Removal of the open source libeay.dll and ssleay32.dlls
2) Addition of VI.Utils.dll

I'm guessing that they started using one of the System functions to either bootstrap the loading of the VI.Utils.dll or to make calls through System.Web to handle the SSL encryption.

On another more important note: The ESX Update Manager for vSphere also fails in Windows 7 RTM and attempts to use the client work-around failed.

-Robert

And due to the different version, the compability won't help in this case.

I tested this and it work on Windows 7 Professional x86 (6.1.7600)

Which should be the official(MSDN) version.

Thanks again!!

BTW, with your permission, I will post your solution on my blog with your name and this link. thanks.

Follow the below link for a PowerShell script that does all you need it to do... My compliments to

http://www.tinyint.com/index.php/2009/09/04/vsphere-client-on-windows-7/

Matthew Leib