Installing vCenter Server on Windows 2012

vCenter 5.1 requires the Protected Storage service in Windows to start its own service. This service has been deprecated in Windows Server 2008 R2 and has been removed from 2012.

Existing Windows Server 2012 install, not Server Core

Follow this video by VMware: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w61GlDtX3wA

SSO and IS will install succesfully, but vCenter will not

Press Win+R, enter regedit, press enter.

In regedit, navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/vpxd

Edit the key DependOnService by doubleclicking on it.

Remove the line ProtectedStorage

Save & reboot the server

Wait until the vCenter service starts up

Start the vCenter Setup again, but this time only the vCenter Server

It will now finish without errors