Finding VMWare-viclient.exe

[chartman4ccc]

Greetings:

So, we downloaded the free version of ESXi to install, test and play with it. The install went fine. Got it configured with no problems. However, when we went in via three browsers and clicked on the bulleted link "Download VMware Infrastructure Client" we get nothing to download. In IE we get a 404 error. In Firefox we get a 0 byte file download. In Opera it attempts to download something but just hangs. The VMWare site has no download for this file that I could find. It sends us to download the ESXi iso all over again. Been there done that.

I called VMWare phone support. They sent me here to find an answer they are not paid to support.

Hence my question. Does anyone know where to download the VMWare-viclient.exe file that doesn't install correctly on the ESXi server? Since it doesn't work on the installed server, and doesn't seem to be anywhere on the VMWare site, is our only option to toss this generously declared 'free' product into the trash and go through a cranial process that can only conclude that virtualization is not quite ready for prime time yet? Or, at the minimum, that this product is simply flawed and not a real player yet?

Thanks for any help to our blindness on this issue.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Since this is a test system, you can enable SSH (see link on www.vm-help.com) and then download the client from /usr/lib/vmware/hostd/docroot/client/VMware-viclient.exe. You could also extract the file from the install ISO, the patch for ESXi 3.5 Update 2 or the VirtualCenter CD.

[jasonlitka]

If you extract the install ISO you can find the VI Client Installer in there. Personally though, I'd be more worried about why that file is missing from your install (as well as what else might be missing). If you haven't started using that system you should probably reinstall.

Jason Litka

[chartman4ccc]

Thanks for the info. When we got into the command line we discovered that the viclient.exe is a series of links that end up in empty directories. Hence, there is no viclient.exe to be found on the server. Are you sure that the exe file is included with the iso?

[Dave_Mishchenko]

It's definitely on the CD. The CD basically boots and then copies a dd image to your hard drive. It seems in your case that something went wrong with the install. Did you check the md5sum for the download? You might also want to reinstall. What sort of hardware are you using?

[chartman4ccc]

The installation appears normal. The command line looks normal. Is it possible that the viclient.exe could just 'not be there' and the iso is ok on every other cylinder? Seems weird from this end. To extract from the iso, can you recommend a tool to do that?

[jasonlitka]

Use a combination of WinImage and WinRAR/7-Zip to extract the necessary files.

Jason Litka

[chartman4ccc]

That help link was very nice. Is there an easy way to get out of the command line mode when you are done? Alt-F1 gets you to the command line, but we didn't find a way to exit the command line.

Thanks.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

ALT-F2 will get you back to the configuration (DCUI) screen. ALT-F12 will give you some detailed logging.

[Formatter]

I know this one I know this one

I helped another fella with this. For some reason prior to him putting in the license he could not get it from the web. After he put it in he had no problems. I dont know why but it fixed it in his case.. Mayb etry that.

Hope that helps

[btsn]

No disrespect intended but using a virtualization product is not for a novice user, it requires moderate to advanced computer knowledge to implement properly. I think all the virtualization companies including vmware are doing very poor job of informing users of the knowledge level require to use their products. This is probably due to the fact that the companies are trying to expose as many users as possible to virtualization in order to gain as much market share as possible. Either way IMHO it is a bad idea. I see posts all over the virtual forums everyday from people asking how to install an OS, configure basic networking or how to extract files from an ISO file.

Take my advice people, learn computer operating systems and networking before you attempt virtualization. It will save you tons of time and make your virtual experience more positive.

[Formatter]

Ok Quals, Cisco CCNA 1,2,3,4 Two year Diploma in IT information managment and Systems Networking. 20 Years experiance in Networking and Program design and technologies. Any other items you wish to know. Thats the shortest list I could make.

AlsoI think the folks at VMware are doing a fantastic job at getting a green technology out there for people to experiment with.

[btsn]

I share similar credentials, I just wish vmware and virtualization companies would post disclaimers that tell the newbies that virtualization is not a simple point and click setup.

I knew when vmware decided to give away esxi the forums would be flooded with novice issues!

I wish they would have charged $49 for it just to keep out of the hands of the masses of newbies.

[Formatter]

Maybe, however if they don't try they won't learn. And maybe we that do know a little should be passing it on to others.

[btsn]

Back to the point in my original post, if someone does not know how to extract a file from an ISO file then they are not ready for ESXi.

The original poster stated they downloaded esxi to play with, called vmware for support (of a free product), knocked vmware for lack of support then complained about the product because it they could not find the viclient. IMHO, they should have downloaded the documentation and read everything prior to posting a complaint about the product.

[xitijmanohar]

Hi,

just point ur web browser to the ip address of ur ESXi server.

From the web page u can download the client.

[clangloi]

Did you read the original post? The link does not work - in any browser. I have the same issue. I will now hunt on the mounted ISO image, but you'd think the company would release a product that would work out of the box. Not in our cases.

I mounted the ISO on my Mac OS X box, and extracted the install.tgz file. I found the usr/lib/vmware/installer/VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0_Update_3-123629.i386.dd.bz2 file within it, and extracted that, but was only left with the resultant VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0_Update_3-123629.i386.dd file. Rather useless.

[Jasin2069]

That post was back in November... anyways I had the same problem the first time I installed ESXi.

I just reinstalled ESXi one more time and it worked fine. So something might have happened during the install.

[Permidion]

just to give some more info about this:

to open the VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0_Update_3-123629.i386.dd file on windows, any forensic software should be able to mount the dd and allow you to extract the exe.

I used OSFMount (http://www.osforensics.com/tools/mount-disk-images.html) which is free for the basic version.

select the .dd file to mount, then select the correct partition inside the .dd (if you select the "Use entire image file" it will not work as window will not recognise the partitions).

In this case, it was the largest FAT16 partition (540Mb).

Once the partition is mounted, you should be able to find the exe in the folder packages\3.x.x\client\VMware-viclient.exe

enjoy

Peter