Symptoms
After upgrading the operating system where VMware componenets are installed, you experience these symptoms:
- You are unable to start the VMware VirtualCenter Server, VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices, or VMware vSphere Web Client service
- Starting a service fails with the error:
Error 1075: The dependency service does not exist or has been marked for deletion - The operating system was upgraded to Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 from Windows Server 2008 R2
Cause
This issue occurs due to the change of services and service names in Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2.
In Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, the VMware Virtual Center Server and VMware vSphere Web Client services are dependent on the Protected Storage service. In Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, the Protected Storage service is renamed to the Security Accounts Manager service. During the operating system upgrade, the VMware service dependencies are not updated with the new service names. This results in the VMware Virtual Center Server service not being able to start as the Protected Storage service no longer exists.
I followed this KB (2112741)