Hack VMware Remote Console (Firefox add-on) to Run Independently !!!

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In firefox version 3.6 or higher, VMware Remote Console Plug-in will not load properly. To open VMWare Remote Console, there is a small hack were we can load VMware Remote Console independently without running older version of firefox. A good patch management tool can prevent such attacks.

Skip to step 5 if VMware Server and VMware Remote Console Plug-in are already installed.

1) Install the VMware Server 2.x

2) Access VMware Web Access Management
http://localhost:8222 OR https://localhost:8333

3) When we try to access console tab it complains saying “The VMware Remote Console Plug-in is not installed or could not be found.”

4) Click on “Install plug-in” to install the VMware Remote Console Plug-in as a firefox add-on.

5) Now we can find VMware Remote Console Plug-in inside “.mozilla” in your home directory under “extensions” folder. Below command will give the path of VMware Remote Console Plug-in
user@ubuntu# cd ~/.mozilla && find . -iname [email protected]

6) Copy VMware Remote Console Plug-in directory to your chosen path.
user@ubuntu# cp -r ./firefox/acdnde.default/extensions/[email protected] ~/vmware-console

7) Change directiory “~/vmware-console/plugins/” and assign execute permission to “vmware-vmrc”. Execute “./vmware-vmrc” to get the VMware Remote Console Window.
user@ubuntu# cd ~/vmware-console/plugins/
user@ubuntu# chmod +x vmware-vmrc”
user@ubuntu# ./vmware-vmrc

VMware Remote Console appears as show below

NOTE: If it is not showing the below “VMware Remote Console” Window, Set “VMWARE_USE_SHIPPED_GTK” variable to “yes”
user@ubuntu# export VMWARE_USE_SHIPPED_GTK=yes

8) Connect to server by giving VMware server IP address with port 8333 and credentials as shown below.

vmware-console-01

9) If authentication is successful, it will list available “Virtual Images” in the VMware Server as show below,

vmware-console-02

10) Select the virtual image which we want to access.

Alternatively, we can extract the plugin from VMware Server installation located @
“/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/plugin/vmware-vmrc-linux-x86.xpi” and “unzip vmware-vmrc-linux-x86.xpi”

Repeat the same procedure from step 6.

This way we can run VMware Remote Console independently without installing old firefox to get VMware Remote Console.

Cheers!!!
Veerendra GG