VMware Cloud Community
FredPeterson
Expert
Expert

vSphere Client - column choices not staying

So...is it just me, or does the vCenter client simply not remember the column choices?

I tire of removing columns from view and re-ordering the columns every time I launch the application.

11 Replies
Troy_Clavell
Immortal
Immortal

I've noticed if you have a 2.5 instance and a 4.x instance in your environment, since not all column choices are available in 2.5, this confuses the client. Is that the case in your environment?

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FredPeterson
Expert
Expert

Nope, pure v4.1 vCenter and associated client - especially the install I did today on a brand new laptop.

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Matt_B1
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Anyone? This can kill your client when you have a few custom columns and hundreds of VMs. If they can't get the column preferences to stick, can we at least have an option to select more than one column at once to remove. When I right-click the colums to remove them, I have to repeat the process for every column I want to hide. Can someone add this to the feature request? I have seen at least 5 threads in these communities describing people having the same problem.

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bobarc
Contributor
Contributor

Same problem here. Very annoying.

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jsauter
Contributor
Contributor

Is there any response or fix for this? This is extremely annoying to change multiple times a day! Giving me carpul tunnel. I will have to write a vb script to update the registry manually.

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DyJohnnY
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I think I remember a KB where it said it was a bug...found it

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=103061...

You can export column settings from registry, saves you from writing the vBScript.

IonutN
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Matt_B1
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yes, I noticed that KB in the weekly digest.  I have tried it out but it does not work for vCenter 4.0U2 and probably earlier versions.  I guess I will have to wait until we upgrade to 4.1.

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Gdriver
Contributor
Contributor

We use

VCenter 4.1.0

BUILD 345043

and this error is still there.  The KB article  doesn´t work.

This is such a crap if you have to change these settings everytime... same as this crap with the language which is never completely right. Sometimes 90 % english 10 % german...sometimes 50 / 50.

Our users and we also are really sad vmware change this... this is just worse and not an improvement.

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raybccul
Contributor
Contributor

Bumping this old post to add that I;m seeing the same behavior in VCenter 5.0.0. I noticed when I changed the registry key to display the additional columns, as soon as I change to a view that uses that registry key, it reverts to the default settings.

oz2edri
Contributor
Contributor

I'm using VMware vSphere Client 5.5.0 build 2417603, and I'm having the same issue - changes I made to the columns view in the client aren't preserved.

VMware described this issue in kb 1030614 (link‌). It was also discussed here in other threads.

The suggested solution in the kb is to modify the relevant registry key. However, it's working only if the user implements the registry modification when the vSphere Client is running, and then change the view in the client between some other tab and the required tab in order to see the change.

For example, if the user wants to modify the "Virtual Machines" tab, he needs to modify the VMHeaderColumnsProp data as explained in the kb, and while the client is running, and then he needs to go back to the client and switch to some other tab and go back to the "Virtual Machines" tab to see the change.

Implementing the registry change while the client isn't running won't help since when it'll load it'll revert the changes that were made.

In addition, setting this key with no permissions so he won't be modified won't help since the client needs to modify it while it's running.

A good practice will be running the client via a batch file and include a timeout of a few seconds, after which the registry modification will take place.

Here is an example for the relevant commands:

start /d "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher" VpxClient.exe

timeout 10 /nobreak >nul

reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VMware\VMware Infrastructure Client\Preferences\UI" /v VMHeaderColumnsProp /t REG_SZ /d "0-136,25-437,19-87,22-240,1-91,2-81,20-103,21-110,9-173,10-85,3-158,4-100,5-100,6-95,7-95,8-95,11-0,12-0,13-0,14-0,15-0,16-0,17-0,18-0,23-0,24-0,26-110,27-0,28-0,29-109,30-84,31-97,32-99,33-77,34-56,35-72" /f >nul

Does anyone know about another permanent solution?

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tgeyer
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

This problem has bugged me for years.  It would be so easy for VMware to fix.  Just update the registry entry at shutdown instead of startup.  But because it's the thick client, they're not going to do it.  My theory is that it's VMware implicitly telling their remaining thick client addicts to get with the program and start using that inferior web client.

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