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problem upgrading vCenter 4.0 to 4.1 on WK2008R2

Hi all,

i'm a beginner in VMware vCenter technologies and i have a big problem.

I've installed a vCenter 4.0 on a Windows Server 2008R2 SP1 (64 bits), and 3 ESX 4.0 servers on 3 physical machines. The upgrade for the ESX 4.0 to 4.1 was ok.

But, after downloading vCenter 4.1 and lauching the install on my WK2008 server, i've got this message:

"The program or feature "\??\E:\vpx\VMware-vcserver.exe" cannot start start or run due to incompatibility with 64-bit version of Windows. Please contact the software vendor to ask if a 64-bit Windows compatible version is available".

I went on google, VMware website... etc, to find out if my hardware (or OS) was not compatible, but i didn't find anything.

Does someone have an idea about troubleshooting this?

There's no ignorance, there just only a lack of experience
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8 Replies
dtracey
Expert
Expert

Hi there,

Is the machine that you are attempting to install 4.1 on, a Domain Controller? Or does it hold any other roles within AD?

What version of vCenter 4.0 were you running before (32/64bit)?

Did you perform an md5sum on the 4.1 ISO after you downloaded it?

Are you running the install with sufficient admin rights?

Dan

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Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi,

The machine which is running my vCenter 4.0 is a VM, and is neither a Domain Controller or part of an AD.

Guess the version of vCenter 4.0 i'm actually running is a 64-bit version. (how can i check it?)

About the admin rights, no problem, i'm the local administrator.

About the md5sum, don't know what it is. I've just downloaded VMware vCenter Server 4.1 and modules iso (2.2GB) on the website with the Download Manager.

There's no ignorance, there just only a lack of experience
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Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hum...

went on VMware download website, and download again vCenter Server 4.1 and modules, but this times, in zip format.

It seems to work this time. But i still don't know why with the iso format, it couldn't work.

There's no ignorance, there just only a lack of experience
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dcain
Contributor
Contributor

Hello all, I can confirm exactly the same issue, vCenter 4.01 upgrading to 4.1 on a Windows 2008 SP2 x64 server.

Using the ISO download, initially I found I could not run the AgentUpgradeCheck, following that I also couldn't run the actual upgrade. In each case an error box popped up entitled "Unsupported 16-Bit application". After seeing the suggestion above I downloaded the zip file and the upgrade has run fine.

David

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Hi David,

Did you try it on a Windows 2008 SP2 or Windows R2 SP2? R2 SP2 is still in beta and it's possible that we may encounter issues.

If you were using Windows 2008 SP2 (not R2), then when did you encounter the issue: was it when you clicking the "vCenter Server" link on the "VMware Product Installers", or you even didn't get the "VMware Product Installers"window opened? The "VMware Product Installers" window is the first window opened when the autorun invoked.

I tried a downloaded iso build today and it's fine to invoke and proceed on a Windows 2008 SP2.

Regards,

-Peifeng Li

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Hello,

Only possible thing I can think of at the moment is please check the md5sum of the downloaded iso.Tried this scenario of Upgrade from VC40U1 to VC4.1 using iso image on a Win2k8R2 VM and there were no issues seen in upgrade.Also the PreupgradeCheck tool link is working and launches the tool.

Thanks

Sriram

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klstay
Contributor
Contributor

I have the same problem with the iso download - ran the md5sum and it checked out, just no joy trying to run it - same dreaded 16 bit error.

I am downloading the zip now and will try it.

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jaymo
Contributor
Contributor

this post may be a bit old, but I too had the 16-bit error yesterday with the ISO.

"The program or feature "\??\E:\vpx\VMware-vcserver.exe" cannot start start or run due to incompatibility with 64-bit version of Windows. Please contact the software vendor to ask if a 64-bit Windows compatible version is available".

I resolved it by logging in with a domain account (that has administrator privilege on the server) and ran the vmware-vcserver.exe loader in an elevated command prompt (i.e. run as administrator).

for some reason, it wouldn't run using the local administrator account, had to be logged in with a domain account.

anyway, I hope this helps someone....

cheers

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