Was getting error “Unable to Connect to Remote Server” when trying to install the Converter plug-in from vSphere Client. The plug-in name and description were also appearing as just “converter” as opposed to “vCenter Converter” as it should be. The vCenter server had been recently setup and connected to an existing database which previously had Converter installed and the plug-in available from vCenter.

Checked in the vCenter database for details on the plug-ins available. The table in question is [VPX_EXT_CLIENT], the field [EXT_ID] will tell you which plug-in each row refers to. In this case it is the com.vmware.converter row. Noticed that the [URL] field had spaces in it (the field read: http:/server:80/vmc/VMware Converter Client.exe). Changed the spaces to %20 (since this is a HTTP service) so the field read: http:/server:80/vmc/VMware%20Converter%20Client.exe), retried the download from vSphere Client, all worked well.

I figure the plug-in’s details were updated in the database when the Converter service was installed on the new vCenter service but not sure why it ended up like that. So, put the database entry back to it’s original format (i.e. spaces instead of %20′s) and went to another client that did not have the Converter plug-in installed. Interestingly, it could see the correct name and description and could download and install the plug-in…

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