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egonsauter
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vCenter Server 6.5 vcsa-ui-installer/win32/installer.exe fails - incomaptible windows version

Hi,

I am trying to migrate vCenter Server App 5.5 (VM) to 6.5.

First I mounted the ISO image (VMware-VCSA-all-6.5.0-9451637.iso) and called the installer.exe file. This failed with comment that the file is not compatible with windows version (my workstation still runs Windows 7 Pro SP1 64bit).

I extracted ISO file to a directory on C: drive and tried again. Same result.

Any idea what causes this and how to overcome this sitution?

Any other installation method (other than running the installer.exe) recommended?

Regards,

Egon

15 Replies
birend1988
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Can you provide me the build number of the ISO file.

VCIX, NCAP
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egonsauter
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My unerstaning is that build number is "9451637".

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birend1988
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I am suspecting this could be the issue with the ISO file.

Can you please download the latest version of ISO and try.

VCIX, NCAP
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egonsauter
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Hmm, sure but this takes some time. I need to contact my internal software provider as I am not entitled to download products from VMware portal directly.

Is there any check sum of the ISO file available so I can check whether it has been transferred correctly?

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egonsauter
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Checksums of file VMware-VCSA-all-6.5.0-9451637.iso on my workstation are:

MD5:    2f4f104d2d7e0e261c299fb7cb606fbb

SHA1:  4edb327c13f4779ca62e80dcffe62315f150b53c

Could the checksums been verified by someone who downloaded same build version, please? Or, is VMware providing that information I am not able to see because I am not entitled to donwload images?

Thanks, Egon.

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birend1988
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MD5SUM: e4d7d7afba4eae4bb892424d19c5b637

SHA1SUM: ba71511bb26149b71a744d7906b05fcb8e97ae19

Download VMware vSphere

VCIX, NCAP
egonsauter
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for providing the link. When I try to download the ISO file I'll see:

"You either are not entitled or do not have permissions to download this product.

Check with your My VMware Super User, Procurement Contact or Administrator."

So I need to ask my internal software provider for a link to download the file from an internal server.

At least I know the checksums now so I can verify whether download from there is OK.

Regards, Egon

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egonsauter
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Hi,

I got a new link to download vCenter server ISO image and the file I downloaded shows the checksums listed by brend26.

After mounting the ISO image I was able to install new vCenter server 6.5 VM (phase 1of installer.exe). Now I have an issue with the certificate (phase 2 of installer.exe).

Thanks for your support, brend26.

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birend1988
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Can you share me the screen shot??  wht error message you are getting??

VCIX, NCAP
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egonsauter
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Unfortunately it is in German language:

pastedImage_0.png

The warning can be ignored DRS has been set to manually.

Regarding the error: the host name has been set to deboblabvc1.deboblab.att.com, but that is not reflected in the certificate as a certificate hasn't been created. I used vCenter client to manage the VMware cluster (3 physical servers).

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birend1988
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SO in this case you need to regenerate the machine SSL cert for your 5.5 VC first.

VMware Knowledge Base

How is your environment?? Like do you DVS or any other external solution?

I would suggest you to deploy new 6.5 VC if you do not have too much dependency.

VCIX, NCAP
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egonsauter
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I see.

I've an isolated lab with just some Symantec servers I am testing, Most of them have integrated CAs (creating self-signed certificates) which I can add to the trusted CA list of the browser. I have no OpenSSL running, but downloaded "SimpleAuthority" just today to be able to create certificates with it.

On vCenetr 5.5 I see no option to manage certificates. I read that under administration (Verwaltung) ther should be an entry for this, but I am missing it.

pastedImage_1.png

Would a new vCenter 6.5 installation require to create a certificate? Can I "register" (or migrate manualy) my 3 hosts and 10-15 running VMs manually in vCenter 6.5?

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birend1988
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You need to login to the vCenter server using web client.

Yes, you can add ESXi hosts to the vCenter and fresh install of the vCenter server will have self sign certificate.

But the problem here is you can not manage you 5.5 hosts from the 6.5 VC, so first you need to deploy the 6.0 VC then upgrade your ESXi hosts and then upgrade to 6.5 version.

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egonsauter
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OK, yesterday I was a little frustrated about the options I saw.

Today, it looks much better:

- I was able to change the hostname from "deboblabvc1.deboblab.att.com" to just "deboblabvc1" and fix a DNS issue.

- Running phase 2 of installer.exe again resulted in a license warning (not error!). And phase 2 ended successfully!

- I was able to login to web client (https://<VC IP>/vsphere-client/) and vSphere client(https://<VC IP>/ui/)

- I was able to install and assign new vCenter license

- all my hosts and VMs are listed as expected (a few are powered off).

Fortunately, it was not needed to install vCenter and ESXi 6.0 first, and all the certificate stuff could be prevented. Replacing the default certificates is a task for near future.

So I think vCenter migration was successful (knock on wood) and I can start upgrading ESXi soon.

Thanks for your support.

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birend1988
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That's a good news!!! And happy to hear that vCenter server is upgraded successfully.

If any of my information helped you in this task, please mark it as helpful/answered as it will help others and me as well.

-cheers

VCIX, NCAP
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