Port already in use when installing VMware vCenter Server

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

After verifying the the availability of TCP/UDP ports during vCenter Server configuration. When the vCenter Server Web service is installed and one of the selected ports is in use, you see this error:

Invalid Virtual Infrastructure Web Service https port number or TCP/IP port in use

In the vpxd.log file on vCenter Server, you may see one of these error messages:

Failed to create https proxy: An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forbidden by its access permissions.
[VpxdReverseProxy] Failed to create http proxy: An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forbidden by its access permissions
[VpxdReverseProxy] Failed to create http proxy: Resource is already in use: 0.0.0.0:80

vCenter service had issues starting and giving the following message

2015-11-16T09:24:56.559-08:00 [05384 info 'ProxySvc'] vmacore/ssl/serializeServerHandshake: false
2015-11-16T09:24:56.560-08:00 [05384 error 'vpxdvpxdMoReverseProxy'] [VpxdReverseProxy] Failed to create http proxy: Resource is already in use: <acceptor p:0x000000000a88eca0, h:1996, <TCP '[::]:80'>>
2015-11-16T09:24:56.560-08:00 [05384 error 'vpxdvpxdMain'] [Vpxd::ServerApp::Init] Init failed: ReverseProxyMo::Init()
--> Backtrace:
--> backtrace[00] rip 000000018018b7fa
--> backtrace[01] rip 0000000180104c78
--> backtrace[02] rip 0000000180105f6e
--> backtrace[03] rip 000000018008ff08
--> backtrace[04] rip 0000000000445bac
--> backtrace[05] rip 0000000000466722
--> backtrace[06] rip 00000001400873b7
--> backtrace[07] rip 000000014007f8cc
--> backtrace[08] rip 00000001402b526b
--> backtrace[09] rip 000007feff0aa82d
--> backtrace[10] rip 0000000076ba5a4d
--> backtrace[11] rip 0000000076ddb831
-->
2015-11-16T09:24:56.562-08:00 [05384 warning 'VpxProfiler'] ServerApp::Init [TotalTime] took 9180 ms
2015-11-16T09:24:56.563-08:00 [05384 error 'Default'] Failed to intialize VMware VirtualCenter. Shutting down...

rhttpproxy.log may have the similar message;

2017-02-08T16:55:16.323-06:00 info rhttpproxy[03312] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Listening on HTTPS port 443.
2017-02-08T16:55:16.323-06:00 error rhttpproxy[03312] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Application error: An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forbidden by its access permissions
2017-02-08T16:55:16.338-06:00 error rhttpproxy[03312] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Backtrace:

Resolution

This error is seen when another service is already listening on the configured TCP/UDP port on the Microsoft Windows system where VMware vCenter Server is installed. By default, vCenter Server uses ports 80 and 443.

Determine the service listening on the configured port. For more information on determining TCP/UDP port usage, see Determining if a port is in use (1003971).

Note: For more information, see examples of common services on these ports in the additional information section.
If the conflicting service cannot be stopped or disabled, configure vCenter Server to use different ports. For more information about VMware application TCP/UDP port usage, see TCP and UDP Ports required to access VMware vCenter Server, VMware ESXi and ESX hosts, and other network components (1012382) .

For more information, see Cannot install vCenter Server 4.1 or 5.0 on Windows 2008 system with default port settings (1025739) .

Check which service is using port 443, in few cases, it might be from KDC proxy server service, 'NT Kernel and System' WS-Management, World wide web publishing service can also cause the conflict windows owned service, disabling such service resolved the issue.
Ran "netsh http show urlacl" to find the reserved URL using port 443.
Check the windows firewall and disable antivirus to confirm, as the antivirus will be blocking the creation of new sockets.
Check any plugin like Citrix Licensing services, EMC srs https listener, IBMStorageManagerProfilerWebServer Apache Tomcat Server service, Cisco San Manager software, Novell Zenworks Service Manager, Splunk services.
Had a similar error. vCenter service started for a short period and then shut down. We determined Client for NFS service was using port 902.

Additional Information

Examples of common services on these ports include:

Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) – If you do not want the IIS functionality, stop and disable the IIS Administration and World Wide Web Publishing Services. For more information, see the Microsoft article Disable or Remove Unnecessary IIS Services.
World Wide Web Publishing Services (W3SVC) – For more information, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article IIS World Wide Web Publishing Service (W3SVC).
BranchCache Service – For more information see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article, BranchCache Overview.
Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Service (SSRS) and SQL Analysis service – For more information, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article Install Reporting Services and Internet Information Services Side-by-Side.
Routing and Remote Access service (RRAS) – For more information, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article Routing and Remote Access Service.

Note: Ensure that this service is not running on vCenter Server.

Microsoft Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP) – Check that this service is not enabled automatically through group policies.

Microsoft Web Deployment Agent Service (MsDepSvc) - For more information, see Web Deployment Tool Installation.

Note: The preceding link was correct as of April 2, 2014. If you find a link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link. For translated versions of this article, see: