VMware Server Console unavailable (page not found) – VMware hostagent Service Down
I recently changed IP address my machine hosting VMware server 2.0, after reboot I couldn’t access VMware Server Console page on port 8333 or 8222 i.e.
a) https://localhost:8333/ui/ (SSL) or
b) http://localhost:8222/ui/ (for Non SSL).
To know more about how to use/configure/install VMware server on Microsoft Windows Vista/XP click here
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Troubleshooting VMware Server Console Issue
1. Check if port 8333 or 8222 is listening on windows server (8333 and 8222 are default web port used by Tomcat shipped with VMware to access console page via browser)
Start -> Run -> cmd
netstat -an
There was no process Listening on Port 8333 or 8222
2. Check if VMware Service is running
Start -> Run -> services.msc
a. VMware hostagent service was down on starting
The VMware Host Agent service terminated with service-specific error 4294967295 (0xFFFFFFFF).
Recent change : IP change
3. Check Logs at C:\ ProgramData\ VMware\ VMware Server (For Vista)
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Log for VMware Server, pid=224, version=2.0.0, build=build-122956, option=Release, section=2
[2009-02-05 05:55:30.352 ‘App’ 3024 info] Current working directory: C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Server
[2009-02-05 05:55:30.352 ‘App’ 3024 info] Trying blklistsvc
[2009-02-05 05:55:30.352 ‘App’ 3024 info] Trying cimsvc
[2009-02-05 05:55:30.352 ‘App’ 3024 info] Trying directorysvc
[2009-02-05 05:55:30.352 ‘App’ 3024 info] Trying hostsvc
[2009-02-05 05:55:30.399 ‘App’ 3024 panic] error: not well-formed (invalid token)
[2009-02-05 05:55:30.399 ‘App’ 3024 panic] backtrace:
(backtraces not supported)
[2009-02-05 05:55:30.399 ‘App’ 3024 info] Win32 service stopped
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4. Googled for error message”error: not well-formed (invalid token)” and one of solution was to check datastores.xml and if file is not correct replace it with datastores.xml.default
In my case I checked at C:\ ProgramData\ VMware\ VMware Server\ hostd\ datastores.xml and file was empty (no data) and there was no datastores.xml.default file
Fix : Moved this file to datastores.xml.corrupt and tried starting VMware hostagent Service. It worked this time and created new datastores.xml