Running multiple vSphere Clients on a single PC

[burritoincognito]

Short of virtualizing a few different XP machines just for this task, is there a way to have multiple versions of the vShere client on a single PC?

At work, we have a couple computers that are stuck on 5.0 due to purple-screening on the the 5.1 installer, a lot of 5.1, a 5.1u1, and I've upgraded my home lab to 5.5.

Bouncing around from 5.0 to 5.1. to 5.5 asks for reinstall, and I'm pretty sure they can't all be installed and ran simultaneously.

 

[peanuthead]

What about just installing them into their own subdirectory?

 

[burritoincognito]

Does that work? When I upgraded from 5.1 to 5.5, it mentioned something about stopping the other services. Admittedly, I didn't pay too much attention, as I planned on reformatting the desktop (which would only run 5.5) soon anyway.

 

[Wrench00]

I've had 4 and 4.1 and 5 and 5.1 on the same pc with out an issue.

 

[peanuthead]

It should. Load up a temp VM with something like Windows 7 and install the clients to see what happens. I am just so I can see what happens and answer the question with more certainty if asked again down the road.

 

[Eulogy]

You should be able to connect to different servers from the 5.5 client. I have the 5.5 client installed, and connect to 5.5, 5.1 and 4.1 servers without issue. I do 99% of my work through the web client/vCenter though, and only have one 5.1 and one 4.1 server I need to update, which I'll be doing tonight.

 

[NetJunkie]

Uh yeah. You don't need the diff versions. You just need the latest.

 

[peanuthead]

I wonder it stems from wanting to run the C client for pre-5.5 and Web client for 5.5.

 

[NetJunkie]

Still not needed. Just run the 5.5 thick client against any previous version.

 

[burritoincognito]

When I've tried running the 5.1 client against the 5.0, it's told me to download the old client to manage it.