Problem
Running the VMware Infrastructure Client, you can connect to the ESX server OK, but when you try to view the console (either through the VIC or through the console pop-out) the VIC becomes unresponsive for a period of time and you eventually get the error:
Error connecting: Cannot connect to host x.x.x.x: A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond.
Solution
Login to the ESX server vi SSH (or through the system's real console if it has one) and edit the file
/etc/vmware/config, to add this line:
vmauthd.server.alwaysProxy = "TRUE"
Console connections should start working immediately without requiring an ESX boot.
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