vCenter 4.1 Guided Consolidation Converter "not installed"

[Nathan77]

I'm using vCenter 4.1 on a VM and installed the Guided Consolidation plugin.  I installed the VMware Converter 5.0.0.4 on the vCenter 4.1 server and the vCenter Converter Server under Guided Consolidation shows "not installed" and it's not available as a plugin.  I understand from reading some of the other posts that version 5 of the converter is no longer available as a plugin.  Does this mean that I can't use Guided Consolidation?

Another (somewhat related) question.  My ESXi hosts are 4.1 build 348481.  Can I use vCenter 5 to manage version 4.1 hosts?  Perhaps that would take care of the issue.  I had to use version 5 of the converter because it fixed a specific problem I was having with version 4.1 of the converter.

Hopefully my last question is not considered too off-topic for this forum.  I'm just trying to put this all together and vmware is a bit new to me.

[MauroBonder · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Yes you can manage ESX4.1 with vcenter5.

Also check it if you´ve any probelm in future http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/sim/interop_matrix.php

To enable plugin you need install converter inside of virtual machine with virtual center installed.

Now, check on plugin of your vi client if you already downloaded and enable plugin of consolidation, but remeber, check compatibility.

May you´re confused about products installed, guide consolidation is one product, converter is other.