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arshia1
Contributor
Contributor

can not open VM console [unable to connect to the MKS: internal error]

I am new to VMWare and have just installed esxi 4 today to see if i can use it to host 2 virtual machines on my dell r200 server.

I installed the esxi and everything seems to be fine with it. then i installed vSphere client on my win xp pc and connected to esxi machine. i also could create a new VM. but when i try to open the console ( i think this is how i interact with the VM to should install an OS) by right clicking the VM in inventory and selecting open console, i get this error

Unable to connect to the MKS: Internal error

any hints on what causes this?

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29 Replies
jayctd
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I have run into this before ... in my case it was the firewall blocking the ports necessary for the console between my laptop and our testlab vcenter server

Jered Rassier

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AndreTheGiant
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Immortal

You have to give a FQDN to your ESXi or use the IP instead of the DNS name.

You are using localhost, and it cannot work Smiley Happy

Andre

Andrew | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
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arshia1
Contributor
Contributor

thank you jared, but I am doing this with windows firewall turned off.

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arshia1
Contributor
Contributor

thank you for your comment Andre,

I have given a fully qualified name to my esxi machin (it is esxi.jv.local) , on the other hand, i am connecting to it with vSphere client using its ip address.

where am I using local host?

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rofish
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi,

Your local workstation is probably not using the same DNS as the vSphere servers.

Either configure your workstation to use the same DNS or populate the host file of your local workstation with the appropriate entries (I typically add shortnames and long names).

Regards, Ronald

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arshia1
Contributor
Contributor

Ronald,

Thank you for the comment, but DNS server is the same for both esx and the client machine.Do i still have to populate the host file? If yes, how can I do this?

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rofish
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi,

If you are not using dynamic DNS updates add a host record to the DNS for each VM you want to connect to.

You can use host records instead, but if you are using the same DNS it is more efficient to populate DNS.

Hope that helps.

Regards, Ronald

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arshia1
Contributor
Contributor

my VM has no IP address yet. In fact have not installed an OS yet. I created the VM and then wanted to connect to console to start installing windows on it. Since i could not connect, so i have not been able to setup and OS or ip for VM

i have created dns records for esx server itself in DNS, but nothing happened.

ragards,

vadood

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AndreTheGiant
Immortal
Immortal

where am I using local host?

In your screenshot there is "localhost.localdomain".

Andre

Andrew | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
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arshia1
Contributor
Contributor

yes, i noticed it and changed the installation,

there is a fqdn set now but the problem persists

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AndreTheGiant
Immortal
Immortal

Have you restarted the ESXi?

Can you ping the FQDN?

Do you have a Windows Firewall active on your client?

Andre

Andrew | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
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krishnaprasad
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

can you add the below option. This normally work when you are facing timeout isssues when you try to connect ESX. This is to set the proxy settings in ESX config file if its connected in a WAN / LAN

in the file /etc/vmware/config, set

vmauthd.server.alwaysProxy=TRUE

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arshia1
Contributor
Contributor

Andre,

I have restarted the machine and also can ping the fqdn. have disabled windows firewall too.

what is this MKS thing?

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AndreTheGiant
Immortal
Immortal

I do not know what's the meaning of MKS. Maybe is related with the old name of ActiveX object for remote connection.

Here are other suggestion (are for ESX 3.x but could work also for ESX 4):

http://serverfault.com/questions/15249/mks-errors-on-esx

Andre

Andrew | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
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krishnaprasad
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

MKS is Mouse Keyboard and Screen for VMs.

As i mentioned in the other thread, adding the below line to /etc/vmware/config file fixes the problem in most of the cases

vmauthd.server.alwaysProxy = "TRUE"

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savantsingh
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

MKS is a toolkit used to run VM console.

Change this value on you ESX server

/etc/vmware/config

vmauthd.server.alwaysProxy=TRUE

I have seen it fixing the problem many times.

Going to this thread might be helpful:

http://communities.vmware.com/message/442403

Hope this helps!!

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arshia1
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you all for the comments,

I tried setting vmauthd.server.alwaysProxy = "TRUE" and restarting esx, but it did change anything.

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Doogie479
Contributor
Contributor

I am also getting this error when trying to connect to my VMWare ESXi 4.0 (build 171294) box for the first time to install a virtual machine. I have checked the /etc/vmware/config file and it already has the vmauthd.server.alwaysProxy = "TRUE" set correctly. What else can I do to resolve this issue?

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krishnaprasad
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

are you using VI client / Virtual Center to connect to ESX and VMs?

have you restarted the management agent in ESX after modifying this parameter?

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