VMware vSphere 5.0 VM Console Shows “Unable to connect to the MKS: Console access to the virtual machine cannot be granted since the connection limit of 0 has been reached.”

12 Replies

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Lets dive straight into this error message which happens to be affecting two of my VMs:

Unable_to_connect_to_the_MKS_Console_access_to_the_virtual_machine_cannot_be_granted_since_the_connection_limit_of_0_has_been_reached_1

As you can see I’m unable to get the console window working! Exact message displayed across the top sheds some light into why this is happening – “Unable to connect to the MKS: Console access to the virtual machine cannot be granted since the connection limit of 0 has been reached.”

I know of at least three different ways to make this error message go away and get to the console window again.

  • Method 1

    • Edit the *.vmx file and change/add RemoteDisplay.maxConnections value and set it to 10. Example:

    Unable_to_connect_to_the_MKS_Console_access_to_the_virtual_machine_cannot_be_granted_since_the_connection_limit_of_0_has_been_reached_2

  • Method 2

    • Make sure the affected VM is powered off. From vSphere client right click on the desired VM, Edit Settings, Options tab, under Advanced click on General and then on Configuration Parameters. Add Row is what we want to be doing. RemoteDisplay.maxConnections goes under Name and Value is 10.

    Unable_to_connect_to_the_MKS_Console_access_to_the_virtual_machine_cannot_be_granted_since_the_connection_limit_of_0_has_been_reached_3

  • Method 3

    • Use vSphere web client. Open Internet Exporer, navigate to:

    https://your_vcenter_ip_address:9443/vsphere-client and login as per normal.

    Find your problematic VM, right click, Configuration and then Edit Settings.

    Unable_to_connect_to_the_MKS_Console_access_to_the_virtual_machine_cannot_be_granted_since_the_connection_limit_of_0_has_been_reached_4

    Second tab called VM Options is where we should be clicking, expanding “VMware Remote Console Options” is what we want to do. As you can see “Limit the number of simultaneous connections to this virtual machine” is set to 0 meaning no one can connect. 10 is the value we want to set as that’s the default setting.

    Unable_to_connect_to_the_MKS_Console_access_to_the_virtual_machine_cannot_be_granted_since_the_connection_limit_of_0_has_been_reached_5

    Either one of the three methods above will do to regain console access.

    If you guys have any comments please leave them down below!

    12 thoughts on “VMware vSphere 5.0 VM Console Shows “Unable to connect to the MKS: Console access to the virtual machine cannot be granted since the connection limit of 0 has been reached.””

    5. Yasir Ali

      Adrian, Thank you for your post. It was very helpful in resolving the issue at my work. Worked perfectly!

    7. Adrian Kielbowicz Post author

      Yep, firewall can cause this issue if you have one between PC running vSphere client and the ESXi server.

      Graphic representation:

      http://adriank.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Unable_to_connect_to_the_MKS_Console_access_to_the_virtual_machine_cannot_be_granted_since_the_connection_limit_of_0_has_been_reached_5.png

    8. Ted

      @Adrian Kielbowicz thanks for mentioning the firewall. I’ve been banging my head against the wall on this problem for a while and all posts just called it a DNS issue. In my case it was definitely the vSphere client machine not being able to talk to the ESXi host on port 902 which seems to be required for authenticating console connections.

    9. Pingback: Virtual Machine Vm |

    12. Mohamed Aboelazm

      It worked for me ! thanks , did it from the webclient while the machine was running, no power off

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