When installing vCenter 4.1 on Windows 2008 R2 64-bit one of my colleagues ran into the following error message:
This product can only be installed on the following 64-bit operating systems:
Windows XP SP2 or above
Windows 2003
Windows 2008
Although this message is actually correct it was not what was causing this problem as he followed the documentation and installed Windows 2008 64-bit. In this case Active Directory had been installed and that was the reason it was failing. As vCenter installs ADAM it can’t run on top of a server which hosts AD.
TC says
Page 17 of the vSphere 4.1 Compatibility matrix states that you can install vCenter server and vSphere client on Windows 2008 R2. Windows 2008 R2 is only available as 64-bit.
JimPeluso says
On another note when vCenter is installed on a 64-bit R2 server you should change the AD WebServices service to manual/disabled to prevent it from starting and taking over the ports needed for vCenter.
Russ Hayward says
I installed vCenter 4.1 onto Windows 2008 R2 (x64) – without any issues or warnings yesterday.
Kory M. says
Ditto here too, Russ, however, I’m running vCenter on 2k8 R2 solely without any other functionality on the box.
Skyrod7 says
Disabled AD Webservice but issue is remaining(
JimPeluso says
Skyrod7 this might help you… If it’s a port issue caused by AD 2008 R2:
http://bit.ly/9iBwUl
A says
I have a similar issue. I originally briefly installed vCenter Server on Windows 2008 R2, and then quickly uninstalled it. When trying to install it again, it gives the error that my operating is not on the approved list. I’m running a 64-bit OS, whats going on?
Arun Raju says
If I understand this correctly, Duncan states that vCenter cannot be installed on top of a Domain Controller in an Active Directory domain.
mca-ch says
installing on domain controller …haha… you are clearly not a microsoft certified design expert
kz says
“Setting AD Web Services to manual/disabled” is this a general recomendation or just to troubleshoot this particular issue?
Adrian Roberts says
You can indeed install in on 2008 R2 but you will have issues with sysprep when deploying pre-2008 windows Virtual Machines using vcenter guest customization.
Dennis Hartmann says
Is Windows 2008 R2 64-bit SP1 supported for a vCenter installation. A friend is trying to install vCenter on Windows 2008 R2 SP1 64-bit on top of VMware Fusion, but the installation is raising an error message related to NOT using a supported Operating System. Does anyone know if SP1 is supported?
SP says
Yea, because if Microsoft says not to do something because they want you to _buy_ more licenses, that must be the truth. I’ve deployed hundreds of systems that violate Microsoft’s “recommendations” and they work just fine.
mca-ch says:
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 14:55
installing on domain controller …haha… you are clearly not a microsoft certified design expert