Accessing a virtual machine console using the VMware vSphere Web Client in vCenter Server 5.5 and 6.0 fails with the error: Permission to perform this operation was denied

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot open a virtual machine console using the VMware vSphere Web Client.
• Opening the virtual machine console using the vSphere Web Client fails.
• You see the error:
  
  The remote virtual machine vm-ID on host hostname:443 cannot be opened:
  Permission to perform this operation was denied
   
• Opening the same virtual machine console using the vSphere Client works as expected.

Environment

VMware vSphere Web Client 5.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
VMware vSphere Web Client 6.0.x

Resolution

This is a known issue affecting vCenter Server 5.5 and 6.0.

 

Currently, there is no resolution.

 

To work around this issue, apply one of these options:

• Use the vSphere Client to access the virtual machine console.
• Assign Read Only permissions for the user(s) who need to access the virtual machine console on the ESXi host.
  
  Note: If the ESXi host is part of a cluster, you must assign permission to each host of the cluster.

Additional Information