What environment are you using to package the vSphere client using ThinApp?

If the environment you are using already has the .Net Framework installed during the pre-scan then ThinApp is not going to package the needed System.dll required for vSphere to work under Windows 7 because it cannot detect that file has changed.

There are two approaches I would take with ThinApp.

1) After installation use the great workaround provided above. Place the required System.dll and modify the config file. Then modify your DEVPATH environment variable. Once you have made these customisations continue with post-scan in ThinApp and build the package. ThinApp should detect these changes and include them in the package.

2) Build the package on Windows without .Net. Proceed to install .Net after pre-scan so that it can detect the new system system files and include them during post-scan.

Thank you for the workaround.. Using Virtual Win XPin 7 RC was my previous one.. and getting vSphere thin client to work there was much more work and useless obfuscation!

Actually I have to modify my previous statement; The RC version of the vSphere client has the client.xml issue when thinapped. But when I build the GA version, it actually crashes at launch when run from Windows 7.

I packaged the app from a WinXP SP3 box with only security hotfixes, and in the capture I did an install of .Net 3.5 (which contains all the older versions), J# (manually) and the vSphere client itself. The resulting package was around 1GB in size

The thinapp runs fine from windows XP but dies on launch in windows 7.

Well, ThinApp is the VMware product formerly known as ThinStall, which is an application virtualization solution. It does not rely on a virtual machine to run the apps, but instead isolates the application from the underlying OS and presents a virtual filesystem and API to the code running inside. It uses a sandboxing mechanism similar to that found in java, but not quite the same thing.

Of course I could just install the vSphere client locally and be done with it, but packaging it as a thin application makes it portable and install-less, and allows it to run on any windows PC as long as I have the binaries on disk somewhere. Except, as it turns out, on Windows 7

Glad to have been of service - I am a big fan of the technology myself

you need to edit the VpxClient.exe.config file

<?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>

Also insure that you have the .Net "system.dll" from a Non Win7 machine

I have attached both my config and the dll file in a zip file here

Place the config file in your C:\Program Files\Vmware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher folder

Create a new folder called Lib in the folder noted above and place the dll file in this

Edit your system properties and create a new 'Environment Variable" Name it "Devpath" with the value of C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib

Reboot and you should be good to go

Like the others before me who helped me, I am glad that I could help you

This trick with dll and config file works like a charm. Thanks Fernando!

But does somebody have any idea on how to allow it run non-elevated?

(hope I don't desire way too much...)