VCenter 5.1 update 1 upgrade fails with "insert disk 1", now vcenter won't start.

[MikeOD]

I’m having a problem with updating VCenter 5.1 to 5.1 update 1.

I downloaded the ISO then mounted it on the VCenter server at our D/R site (it’s not gone “live” yet, so it makes a good test).
I opened up the disk, then started with the SSO install.  I went through the opening screens, entered the master password, etc.  It then got to the “copying files” screen. It then popped up a dialog to “insert disk 1” with the option to “retry” or “cancel”.  After retrying a couple of times, I hit “cancel” it then “backed out”.

I did some searching and found an article where that error showed up if you were doing an upgrade on a VCenter system that had originally been installed by using the files on the drive, but were using an ISO/DVD for the upgrade.  I copied the files from the DVD to a folder on the hard drive and was going to restart the install.  However, the update would fail before it got to the copying files section.  The install log seemed to indicate the directory rename was failing.

Also, after that, the SSO service wouldn’t restart, it was giving me file not found type errors.  Looking at the VMWare “program files” folders, I found that the install had started renaming various directories, adding a hex number to the end of certain folders.

I removed the hex string from the folders and was able to start the SSO service.  However, when I try to start the VCenter server service, it fails with an error 2.

I’ve tried rebooting, but no luck; it still won’t start the VCenter service.

Fortunately, this site isn’t active yet, so there’s not much to lose if I have to reinstall.  I also have backups of the SQL database, although since the SQL system wasn’t affected, if I do a re-install it should find the database files.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

[marcelo_soares]

Can you attach the last vpxd-*.log file so we can check what is stopping VC?

[MikeOD]

Well, it's working OK now.

I don't have a copy of the log handy, but the errors I was seeing originally were something like "failed to initialize invalid response 404 not found".   (I did find some info on another thread here that this is because SSO is messed up and that I needed to reinstall it and repoint VCenter).

The last thing I did, before I left, was to do a final reboot on the system.  I was going to check on it later, based on what I could find out from here.

However, when I checked later, the VCenter service was running, however I was unable to log in using the regular client..  The vxpd log file was showing errors "failure while trying to connect to the SSO admin server  No connection could be made because the target actively refused it".

I was able to use the web client and log in using the admin@system-domain account and SSO looked OK.  At that time, I restarted the VCenter service and now everything is working OK.

I'm definitely not going to attempt the "Update 1" install at this time.  As for the original issue, the "insert disk 1", is it because I was trying to install from a DVD, when before I installed from the extracted files on the hard drive?  Is there a fix for that, or do I just need to always do an install extracted disk files?

[MikeOD]

Even though the system is now running, I still need to get the update applied.  I've opened a ticket with VMWare regarding the "insert disk 1" error.  So far, their response was that "that isn't expected behavior" and the want to do a WebEx while I try the install again.

There is a VMWare KB article, 1001900, that describes what appears to be the same issue during an upgrade on vcenter 2.0 or 2.5.  One of the fixes in that article is to run an executable, "VirtualCenter-preISOConfig.exe" to fix the registry.  What I'm trying to find out is what registry keys that "fixes".  I wanted to see if those same key(s) are present in the 5.1 system.

Does anyone have any information on what that executable does?  I've emailed the VMWare tech, but he hasn't answered that.

[srodenburg]

I had the exact same problem with the 5.1 U1  SSO Installer (updating from 5.1) saying "insert disk 1".

Afterwards, the vCenter Server is effectively bricked.

The only way to get it back working again reliably, is to stop the now bricked vCenter server. Then restore the RSA Database (if it's on a separate DB Server), then restore the vCenter VM from it's Snapshot you made before the upgrade and power the VM back up.

The solution is to copy the entire contents of the DVD ISO to a folder somewhere on the vCenter Server (in D:\Temp for example) and run the installer from there. Do not run the installer directly from the mounted ISO.

It is not the first time that stuff like this happens. In the past, there was a very similar problem with Update Manager (KB 1006565). The solution is the same as back then.

[ateaJSD]

Hi

....had the same error at a customer today. Solution is as stated above to copy installation DVD to a disc and install from there.

Regards

André

[MikeOD]

I had opened a ticket with VMWare.  They had no informaiton on the "VirtualCenter-preISOConfig.exe" utility, but their solution to the update was to copy the files to the local drive.

That's what I ended up doing and it worked OK.

Afterwards (with 20-20 hindsight..) I did notice in the "readme.txt" there is a statement "VMware recommends that you run autorun.exe to install vCenter Server and its components after you extract them from the archive or iso image."

It said it was "recommended", not "required", and it didn't say why, but I guess I should have looked closer at the readme.txt....

[dkjones21]

Because of the age of the servers we are working on, we had to burn the ISO to a DVD.   I ran into the "insert disk" error and based on a KB from a previous version upgrade, I copied the content of the DVD to my hard disk and installed successfully from there.

[TheITHollow]

This kb shows why the vCenter is "bricked"

If you rename the folders, then you are able to start the SSO service as well as vcenter again.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=205273...

[Gene_H]

We had the same issue.  Upgrading from 5.1.0a to 5.1.0 update 1a on a Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 server.  The SSO upgrade failed with the "Insert Disk 1" error.  After cancelling, we were unable to re-run the upgrade program.

Our solution is as documented above:

1) Implement KB 2052738 - Rename all the directories that were renamed because of the vSphere update operation stopping the SSO service and renaming these directories.

C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\SSOServer\lib

C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\SSOServer\thirdparty-license

C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\SSOServer\utils\lib

C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\SSOServer\utils\jars

C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\SSOServer\utils\bin\windows-x86

C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\SSOServer\utils\bin\windows-x86_64

C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\SSOServer\webapps\ims\WEB-INF\lib

C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\SSOServer\webapps\sso-adminserver\WEB-INF\lib

2) Copy all the files from the installation DVD onto a local temporary file folder - make sure that the folder path\name does not contain any spaces in it.

3) Re-run the SSO upgrade (make sure you are using "run as Administrator")

Success.

Gene

[HybridByNature]

I had the same issue. What I figured out was that I mounted the ISO from within vCenter and when it went to install SSO it disconnected to install the new services. The easy way around this is to use your vSphere client to connect directly to the host that your vCenter server runs on. That way it will get through the install with out disconnecting your drive.

Other info:

I was upgrading from 5.0 - 5.1, so results may vary.

Good luck!

[ateaJSD]

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[TolgaAsik]

Hello;

I have the same issue which is related to upgrade vCenter 5.1.0b to 5.1 Update 1c. I am getting the error "Please insert the disk" in vim-sso-msi.log" file. I copied the content of ISO to local drive, it fails again. I have opened a case to VMware Support.

Regards.

[VBDINO]

Hi TolgaAsik

What info did you get from vmware support?

[TolgaAsik]

Hello

We couldn't found the root cause. But they said me that this problem is related to Windows Installer software/service. Also we suspected from anvtivirus software.

Ultimately , I have re-installed Windows , then vCenter have re-installed.