Q. I'm trying to run the WMware vSphere Client on Windows 7, but I get an error parsing the clients.xml file and login fails. What's wrong?

A. I hit this problem, which is caused by the fact that the VMware client isn't supported under Windows 7 today. One solution is to install the VMware client in a virtual machine running Vista/XP, which works great. You can even use the Windows 7 XP compatibility mode.

As an alternative, there is a hack to make it work directly on Windows 7:

1. Copy the file system.dll from the %systemroot%\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727 folder of a Windows Vista/XP installation which has .NET 3.5 SP1 installed to a temporary area
2. On your Windows 7 client, move to the C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\ folder if you're running 64-bit or C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\ if running 32-bit
3. Create a new sub folder name LibVista or LibXP and copy in the system.dll file
4. Now open the VpxClient.exe.config file in the Launcher folder in a text editor. Add the section below to the file (don't duplicate the </configuration> part)

     <runtime>
       <developmentMode developerInstallation="true"/>
     </runtime>
   </configuration>
   

5. Create a file, vpxclientwin7.cmd, in the Launcher folder with the following content. Note I'm running 64-bit. If you are 32-bit replace ProgramFiles(x86) with ProgramFiles.

   SET DEVPATH=%ProgramFiles(x86)%\VMware\Infrastructure
   \Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\LibVista
   "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual
   Infrastructure Client\Launcher\VpxClient.exe"
   

6. You can now start the Vpx client by running this file

I can now run under Windows 7, as shown here. Note that this is a workaround and shouldn't be considered a long-term solution. A Windows 7 supported client will be made available closer to Windows 7's release.

Click to expand.

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