Downloading and Installing the standalone VMware Remote Console (VMRC) in vSphere

  Purpose

As a result of the deprecation of Netscape Plug-in API (NPAPI) support in Google Chrome, the virtual machine console provided in the vSphere Client Integration Plugin may no longer function when a Chrome browser is updated to a recent version. For more information about the deprecation of NPAPI, see the Chromium Developers article The Final Countdown for NPAPI.

Resolution

In response to the deprecation of NPAPI, VMware has released the VMware Remote Console (VMRC) as a standalone application for Windows and Mac OS that can be used in conjunction with VMware vSphere Web Client which is bundled with vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2b and later versions.

 

With vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2b and later, VMware has provided two new links in the VMware vSphere Web Client called Open with VMRC and Download VMRC. In vCenter Server 6.0 the links are called Launch Remote Console and Download Remote Console. For an HTML in-browser basic virtual machine console, you can continue to use the Launch Console link in vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2b or click on the virtual machine console image on vCenter Server 6.x

 

 

• You can download the latest release of vCenter Server 5.5 from the VMware Downloads.
• You can also download the latest version of the VMware Remote Console for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux from the VMware Downloads.

Note: You must have a profile at my.vmware.com to download the VMRC installer.

 

For more information on the VMRC, see VMware Remote Console Documentation.

Workaround

Procedure to install VMware Remote Console (VMRC) plug-in for Mozilla Firefox / Internet explorer( IE) / Chrome

Procedure:

1. In the Firefox, type the URL for vSphere Web Access
    https://vcenterurl.domain.com
2. Log into vSphere web Access using the credentials 
3. Select the Virtual Machine (VM) in the inventory 
4. Click on the console, if the plug-in is not installed, warning message appears 
5. click Install plugin
6. complete the dialog box & restart the browser

Installing the VMware Virtual Machine Console on a Linux [ RHEL,Ubuntu ]

1.Login as root to linux 
2.Mount the CD-ROM drive and change to the Client directory on the CD.
    #mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
    #cd /mnt/cdrom/Client
3.Unzip the client installer archive to /tmp.
   #unzip VMware-gsx-server-linux-client-<xxxx>.zip -d /tmp
4.Change to the /tmp directory.
   #cd /tmp  
5. Do one of the following:
   
    Use the RPM installer. Run RPM specifying the installation file. 
    #rpm -Uhv VMware-console-<xxxx>.i386.rpm (where <xxxx> is a series of numbers representing the            version and build numbers)
    
    OR
     
    Use the tar installer. Complete the following steps.

1. Unpack the archive:

#tar zxf VMware-console-<xxxx>.tar.gz (where <xxxx> is a series of numbers representing the version and build numbers)

The archive unpacks to vmware-console-distrib.

2. Run the installer:

  #cd vmware-console-distrib
  #./vmware-install.pl

3. Accept the EULA and answer the questions specifying default directories for the binary files, library files, manual files and documentation files.
4. If the Do you accept prompt doesn't appear, press Q to continue.

6.Run the configuration program vmware-config-console.pl

Related Information

• Downloading and installing VMware Player and VMware Workstation Player KB#2053973

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Note: By clicking the Open with VMRC or Launch Remote Console link, you may receive error messages that the required application tried to load the URL that is not available. There is a tooltip next to the link that explains the VMRC download and installation prerequisite.

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