VMware Server 2.0 Console in Chrome and IE

I still support VMware Server for a couple special reasons. When doing new builds getting the console to work can be a pain. The latest version of IE doesn’t show the management console so accessing the configuration or the console from the web browser is a no go. And Chrome does not have a console plug-in. I’m pretty sure FireFox works but honestly I’m done with that browser. So how does one get this to work with Chrome? Well Google is your friend but wanted to share what I found works well and is what I use:

Here is what I do to get around this problem... 

I have a shortcut on my Windows desktop to my VM guest. I find it quicker than starting the browser. You can do something similar on Linux. 

1) Install the VMware Remote Console plugin by running https://localhost:8333/ui/plugin/vmware-vmrc-win32-x86.exe\ 
2) Find out what what your guest ID by looking at vmInventory.xml in /etc/vmware/hostd/ or %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\VMware\VMware Server\hostd 
2) Create a shortcut to vmware-vmrc.exe with the command line option of -h localhost:8333 -M <guest ID> 

The location of vmware-vmrc.exe depends on your version of Windows/Internet Explorer: 

32-bit Widnows XP: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\VMware Remote Console Plug-in\ 
64-Bit Windows 7: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\VMware\VMware Remote Console Plug-in\ 

You will end up with something like the following: 

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\VMware Remote Console Plug-in\vmware-vmrc.exe" -h localhost:8333 -M 80 

See http://communities.vmware.com/message/999988 for  vmware-vmrc.exe command line options.

Here’s the link to the article: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/ZeeFtUwcUik

The XML file for 2008 machines is located here: C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Server\hostd

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