VMware Remote Console 11.x - connection error

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
After upgrading to VMware Remote Console 11.x, you are no longer able to access or pass through a remote device to your virtual machines through VMware Remote Console.

Environment

VMware vSphere 7.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5

Cause

Default transfer protocol/WebSocket per VMRC Versions:

VMRC switched its default transfer protocol to WebSocket in recent releases, which results in the port of daemon service in the host changed as well:

VMRC Version	<11.0	11.0	>11.0
Default protocol & port for Mouse/Keyboard/Screen connection	TCP 902	WebSocket 443	WebSocket 443
Default protocol & port for "remote device" connection	TCP 902	TCP 902	WebSocket 443

Mouse, Keyboard, Screen (MKS):

A process that is responsible for rendering the guest video and handling guest operating system user input.

And considering the support of WebSocket in vSphere releases are different:

vSphere Version	<7.0	>=7.0
Support WebSocket based Mouse/Keyboard/Screen connection	Yes	Yes
Support WebSocket based"remote device" connection	No	Yes

 

Combined Matrix:

The combined matrix is:

	<VMRC 11.0		VMRC 11.0		>VMRC 11.0
	MKS	Remote Device	MKS	Remote Device	MKS	Remote Device
>= vSphere 7.0	902	902	443	902	443	443
< vSphere 7.0	902	902	443	902	443	902

For those combinations fall into the 443 (port) category, by default, VMware Remote Console requires direct access to port 443 on ESXi hosts. If VMware Remote Console cannot reach port 443 on a host, for example due to firewall rules, VMware Remote Console will be unable to access or pass through a remote device to virtual machines on that host.

Resolution

The issue can be resolved by using either one of the below methods:

1. Modify your firewall configuration to ensure that VMware Remote Console can reach port 443 on ESXi hosts before attempting to access virtual machines on those hosts.
2. Configure VMware Remote Console 11.x to use the legacy connection mode. To do so, open the VMware preferences file on the host machine and add the following parameters:

pref.preferWebMKS = "FALSE"

pref.preferWebRemoteDevice = "FALSE"

 

Preferences file location:

The preferences file can be found in the following location:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\VMware\preferences.ini
• macOS (standard install): ~/Library/Preferences/VMware Remote Console/preferences
• macOS (App Store install):~/Library/Containers/com.vmware.vmrc/Data/Library/Preferences/VMware Remote Console/preferences
• Linux: ~/.vmware/preferences