• VirtualCenter Server service fails to start with an Error code 2.
• When attempting to ping localhost with a command prompt from the vCenter Server, it returns ::1 instead of 127.0.0.1.
• The C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs\vpxd.log file for vCenter Server 5.1 contains entries similar to:

T12:53:04.983-07:00 [01880 error '[SSO][SsoFactory_CreateFacade]'] Unable to create SSO facade: vmodl.fault.SystemError.
T12:53:04.983-07:00 [01880 warning 'VpxProfiler'] Vpxd::ServerApp::Init [Vpx::Common::Sso::SsoFactory_CreateFacade(sslContext, ssoFacadeConstPtr)] took 1094 ms
T12:53:04.983-07:00 [01880 error 'vpxdvpxdMain'] [Vpxd::ServerApp::Init] Init failed: Vpx::Common::Sso::SsoFactory_CreateFacade(sslContext, ssoFacadeConstPtr)
Backtrace:
backtrace[00] rip 000000018018d46a
backtrace[01] rip 0000000180105518
backtrace[02] rip 000000018010677e
backtrace[03] rip 00000001800900f8
backtrace[04] rip 0000000000565bac
backtrace[05] rip 0000000000586722
backtrace[06] rip 000000014027c2ea
backtrace[07] rip 0000000140275e4c
backtrace[08] rip 00000001404a487b
backtrace[09] rip 000007feff23a82d
backtrace[10] rip 0000000076ce652d
backtrace[11] rip 00000000770cc521

T12:53:04.984-07:00 [01880 warning 'VpxProfiler'] ServerApp::Init [TotalTime] took 5938 ms
T12:53:04.985-07:00 [01880 error 'Default'] Failed to intialize VMware VirtualCenter. Shutting down...
T12:53:04.994-07:00 [01880 info 'vpxdvpxdSupportManager'] Wrote uptime information

Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.　

• The Windows Event logs located under Control Panel > Administration Tools > Event Viewer contains events similar to:

Event ID 7024 - The VMware VirtualCenter service terminated with service-specific error. The system cannot find the file specified.

Event ID 7009 - A timeout was reached while waiting for the VMware VirtualCenter Server service to connect.

1. Log in to machine running vCenter Server.
2. Open the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file using a text editor.
3. Locate the localhost lines for IPv4 and IPv6:
   
   # 127.0.0.1 localhost
   ::1 localhost
   
   Note: If either line does not exist in the hosts file, add it to the end of the text.
   
   
4. Delete the hash symbol (#) to remove the comment from the IPv4 line and add a hash symbol to comment out the IPv6 line.
   
   127.0.0.1 localhost
   # ::1 localhost
   
   Note: Ensure to separate each value using a tab-deliminator as this is required in Microsoft Windows to function properly.
   
   
5. Save and close the file.
6. Open an elevated command prompt and ping localhost to verify you get a response of 127.0.0.1.
7. Start the VirtualCenter Server service. For more information, see Stopping, starting, or restarting vCenter services (1003895).
   
   Notes:
   
   • If the VirtualCenter Server service still fails, reboot the vCenter Server server.
   • Manually added duplicate/secondary entries for the vCenter Server can also result in similar error messages.