Missing java.exe during Horizon 7.x upgrade

[Readonlymaio]

Hi to all,
we're trying to upgrade our Horizon server from rel. 6.2.9. to 7.x (tried so far 7.3.2 and 7.5) but during the upgrade the error we got the error:

windows cannot find 'c:\program files\vmware\vmware view\server\jre\bin\java.exe' .Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

We checked the folder "c:\program files\vmware\vmware view\server\" during the upgrade and this is what happens:
- the installer/upgrade removes the old version of files and folders
- then it creates again the programs folder but the java.exe executable is actually missing in "c:\program files\vmware\vmware view\server\jre\bin\java.exe"
- if we click "ok" on the error, the installer continues till the end saying the installation/upgrade has completed succesfully, but the server is basically broken/not working

We managed to rollback to the previous snapshot (which is working fine) and tried to upgrade from 6.2.9 to 7.5 but we got the exact same behavior, so I guess there might be something wrong in the current server configuration.

Does someone have some hints to troubleshoot this issue?

Thanks

Maio

[Shreyskar · Accepted solution]

Hi Readonlymaio

This issue occurs due to Incompatible Java code that appears after upgrading from VMware View 6.2.9 to VMware View 7.5.3.

To upgrade 6.2.9 to 7.5.3, please follow below instructions. Rather than doing in-place upgrade, you can perform a clean uninstallation and re-installation using existing ADAM database.

VMware Product Interoperability Matrices

> Take a backup of ADAM database on existing connection servers (See VMware Knowledge Base ).

> Take a snapshot of existing connection servers.

> Uninstall existing connection server from programs and features.

> Delete 'VMware VDM' reg hive from below location on connection server:

HKLM\Software\VMware\VMware VDM

If delete operation fails, right click reg hive > permissions > advanced > check the box 'replace all child object permission...' > Try to delete it now.

> Rename or delete the folder C:\Program files\VMware\VMware View

> Open certificate manager (local machine) and delete all certs from 'VMware horizon view certificates' location. These will be recreated during installation. Do not delete any cert from 'Personal' store.

> Reboot

> Install connection server 7.5.3 as a replica with existing ADAM database. During installation it will automatically pickup the installed AD LDS database.

> Perform the same steps on other replica CS in cluster.

Please mark the reply as helpful/answered if it resolves your issue.

[Readonlymaio]

Hi Shreyskar​,

first of all thank you for your reply.

Our concern about a clean unistall/re-install is that we have only one production server, and this led us to try the in-place upgrade first so that we have a safe fail-back path using backups/snapshots.

So, supposing to follow your suggestions: if we got in trobules in any of the phases involved, do you think it would be possible to safely rollback to an initial snapshot?

Thanks

Maio

[Shreyskar]

Hi Readonlymaio

Yes you can always rollback to initial snapshot (View 6.2.9) if upgrade fails due to any reason. I would also recommend you to keep atleast 2 CS for redundancy.

[Readonlymaio]

Hi Shreyskar​,

we're going to plan the upgrade following your suggestions. Just one more hint/question: during the removal/unistallation phase I guess the folder "C:\ProgramData\VMware\VDM" must be kept, right? (we'll have anyway a snapshot of the whole server)

I'll let you know if we manage to complete the upgrade.

Once again, thank you.

Masio

[Shreyskar]

Hi Readonlymaio

You can delete VDM folder from 'programdata' , it just holds log files nothing else. If you are not comfortable deleting, simply rename it to something else.

[Readonlymaio]

Hi Shreyskar,

we finally managed to plan and execute the upgrade; we followed your procedure step by step and it worked like a charm.

Thank you very much for your support!

Maio