Error: Client is Not Authenticated to VMware Inventory Service

Reason: VMware Client is not authenticated to VMware Inventory Service

As your virtual machines on the VMware platform grow to a certain scale, you may want to install vCenter Server for centralized management. When you log in with the vSphere Web Client using a domain user, you may see the error: Client is not authenticated to VMware Inventory Service. It may occur after you upgrade from vSphere 5.0 to vSphere 5.5.

This can be caused by problems with the identity source or due to the format in which the users associated permissions are currently stored.

To solve the issue, you can follow the next part to remove and re-add the user permissions and the Identity Source step by step.

Solution: Client is not authenticated to VMware inventory services error

This issue occurs if the Inventory service cannot validate the permissions for the domain user through VMware Single Sign-On. In order to fix it, I am going to introduce the detailed steps.

Step 1. Remove the permission

1. Log in to the vSphere Web Client with an administrator account.

2. Navigate to vCenter >> Manage >> Permissions.

3. Select the user or group that is experiencing the issue and remove it.

Step 2. Recreate the identity source

1. Log into the vSphere Web Client with an administrator account.

Note: The default vSphere Web Client URL is https://client-hostname:9443/vsphere-client

2. Navigate to Administration >> Single Sign-On >> Configuration.

3. Remove the currently Identity source(s) for the domain.

4. Click the Identity Sources, then click the Add Identity Source.

5. Select the Active Directory (Integrated Windows Authentication) option.

Note: If the Domain name field is not automatically propagated with the proper Windows DNS domain, enter the proper DNS domain.

6. Select User machine account and click OK.

7. After the Active Directory identity source is configured, users from that domain can be added to vCenter Server.

Step 3. Re-add the permissions for the removed users or groups

1. Log into the vSphere Web Client with an administrator account.

2. Navigate to vCenter >> Manage >> Permissions.

3. Click Add.

4. Select the Role for the user or group.

5. Add the user or group.

6. Log into the vSphere Web Client with the user or a user of the modified group and verify the vCenter inventory is visible.

Important: Backup VMware ESXi VMs to prevent data loss

vCenter Server provides a centralized and extensible platform for managing virtual infrastructure. Using vCenter Server you can centrally manage multiple virtual machines, automate ESXi host configuration, manage patches, etc.

However, vCenter Server does not provide the feature of virtual machine backup. Using a dedicated backup tool is the most commonly accepted way to protect VM data, and is by far the most convenient.

Here I introduce you to a free VMware backup software -- AOMEI Cyber Backup. It automates the backup process of multiple VMs, and sends email notifications if there's an error.

AOMEI Cyber Backup supports VMware ESXi 6.0 and later versions. Please hit the button below to download and use this free professional backup tool with no time limit:

*You can choose to install this VM backup software on either Windows or Linux system.

How to backup VMware ESXi VMs (3 easy steps)

Step 1. Bind Devices

● Access to AOMEI Cyber Backup web client, navigate to Source Device > VMware > + Add VMware Device to Add vCenter or Standalone ESXi. And then click … > Bind Device.

Step 2. Create Backup Task

● Navigate to Backup Task > + Create New Task, and then set Task Name, Backup Type, Device, Target, and Schedule.

● Device: cover multiple VMs on the host in one backup task.

● Target: select to back up to a local path, or to a network path.

● Archive: select the added S3 bucket to archive backup versions to Amazon S3.

● Schedule: choose to perform full, differential or incremental backup, and automate execution according to the frequency you specified.

Step 3. Run Backup

● Click Start Backup and select Add the schedule and start backup now, or Add the schedule only.

Created backup tasks will be listed and monitored separately, for restoring, progress checking and schedule changing.

✍ While the Free Edition covers most of the VM backup needs, you can also upgrade to enjoy:
Backup Cleanup: Configure retention policy to auto delete the old backup files and save storage space.
Restore to new location: Easily make a clone of a virtual machine in the same or another datastore/host, without reinstalling or configuring a new VM.

Summary

when trying to login to vSphere web client, you may receive an error message: “Client is not authenticated to VMware Inventory Service”. The problem is related to domain user authentication. As mentioned in this article, you can resolve this issue by removing and re-adding the active directory security groups back under permissions for the objects it was registered on.