This is on my nerves for days now after I have tried to deploy latest vCenter Server to Windows Server 2008 R2 and 2012 R2. Both fresh installations with nothing more than just the vCenter Server requirements installed. Info:
- Firewall disabled
- UAC disabled
- Administrator used for installation
- 1 NIC
- NSLOOKUP working OK (forward/reverse)
Things I've tried:
- Windows Server 2008 R2 / 2012 R2
- PostgreSQL (embedded) / MsSQL 2012 Express
- Short file name creation enabled (NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation to 0)
- In and out of C:\Program Files\
- With and without computer being added to AD domain
- Clean up all %TMP% / %TEMP% traces of vCenter install then try again
- With and without VMware Tools
All the different combinations from above give the same result, error code 1603. This is obviously a generic OS error code when something goes wrong with the MSI installation package and gives 0 meaningful information.
Further drilling down into vCenter installation log files all I see is this:
2017-03-29 16:24:35.932+01:00| vcsInstUtil-4602587| I: Leaving function: ParseStatusFile 2017-03-29 16:30:47.722+01:00| vcsInstUtil-4602587| I: Entering function: ParseStatusFile 2017-03-29 16:30:47.758+01:00| vcsInstUtil-4602587| I: ParseStatusFile: curr error msg: "VMware VirtualCenter failed firstboot." 2017-03-29 16:30:47.758+01:00| vcsInstUtil-4602587| I: ParseStatusFile: curr error msg: "An error occurred while starting service 'vpxd'" 2017-03-29 16:30:47.758+01:00| vcsInstUtil-4602587| E: ParseStatusFile: Displaying error message for "install.vpxd.action.failed": "VMware VirtualCenter failed firstboot.
An error occurred while starting service 'vpxd'
Please refer to vSphere documentation to troubleshoot or Please contact VMware Support."
I have looked everywhere but for some reason in this version of vCenter the vpxd.log file is not created. Nothing meaningful in Event Viewer (Application) either.
I was exploring the capabilities of the tool for our lab environment but this is just ridiculous.
Any hint you can throw at me is greatly appreciated as I am out of ideas guys..
Cheers!
