Search fails and Hardware Health and Health Status plug-ins are disabled in the vSphere Client

VMware KB: 2031053

This is not a VMware issue. For more information, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 948963.

There is no solution available for 32-bit Windows XP.

For Windows Server 2003 and 64-bit Windows XP, apply the appropriate hotfix to the machine on which the vSphere Client is installed.

Note: The Microsoft Knowledge Base article does not specify Windows XP, but the x64 hotfix for Windows Server 2003 can be successfully applied to 64-bit Windows XP.

To download the hotfix for your system, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article.

Notes:

• You must reboot the machine after applying the hotfix.
• Non-English versions of the hotfixes are also available on the Microsoft site. Click the Show hotfixes for all platforms and languages link on the Hotfix Request page to view the available versions.