VMware vCenter Converter Standalone agent remote deployment failure on Windows Server 2016

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to remotely install or uninstall the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone agent on a Windows Server 2016 target, the process fails with the following error message:

Unable to complete installation/uninstallation of converter agent on '<DESTINATION_IP_OR_FQDN>'

This issue occurs during the "push" installation phase from a remote console. While network connectivity and credentials may be valid, the remote agent deployment cannot initialize on the target operating system.

Environment

vCenter Standalone Converter 8.x

vCenter Standalone Converter 9.x

Cause

The failure is caused by an incompatibility between the vCenter Converter 9.0 agent components and the Windows Server 2016 host. Specifically, the version 9.0 agent requires certain OS-level exports (such as SetThreadDescription in kernel32.dll) that are missing in unpatched or standard Windows Server 2016 environments.

Resolution

To successfully deploy the agent to a Windows Server 2016 target, you must use a compatible version of the Converter Standalone software:

1. Cancel the current remote deployment task in the Converter console.
2. Access the target Windows Server 2016 machine directly.
3. Remove any partial installations of vCenter Converter 9.0.
4. Download and install VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 6 (must match the version installed on your source console) directly on the target server.

   Note: If remote push continues to fail from the console, performing a local installation of the agent/client on the target is the recommended workaround.

5. Re-attempt the conversion.

Additional Information

More information about the failure to run vCenter Converter 9.0 on Windows 2016 can be found here:  vCenter Converter 9.0.0 can't run on windows server 2016