While playing with some nice add-ons for vSphere, like vCenter Operations or the vCenter Infrastructure navigator I was wondering how one can remove a plugin from the Plug-in Manager.

For example, I have removed vCenter Operations but the plugin is still showing up in the plugin manager. The plugin is reporting an error because vCenter Operations is not available anymore:

Unfortunately there’s no remove plugin option available in the vSphere Client.

How to remove a plugin from vCenter Server?

The trick is to use the Managed Object Browser (MOB), which is available through a webbrowser. The URL is https://vcenter.domain.local/mob. Logon using your vCenter credentials. The MOB will welcome you with this screen:

Click content->extension manager to see a list containing the available plugins:

The names are a bit cryptic, so I will provide you with a list:

• com.vmware.vim.ls, License Services
• com.vmware.vim.sms, VMware vCenter Storage Monitoring Service
• com.vmware.vim.sps, VMware vSphere Profile-drive Storage Service
• com.vmware.vim.stats.report, Performance charts built-in extension
• com.vmware.vim.stats.vsmv, Service Manager
• health-ui, vCenter Service Status
• hostdiag, Internal extension to declare diagnostic events from VMware Host systems.
• VirtualCenter, VirtualCenter dynamic events and tasks
• com.vmware.orechestrator, VMware vCenter vCO plugin
• com.vmware.rbd, Auto Deploy
• com.vmware.syslog, VMware Syslog Collector Configuration
• com.vmware.vcDr, VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Extension
• com.vmware.vcHms, Unknown
• com.vmware.vcIntegrity, VMware vSphere Update Manager Extension
• com.vmware.vShieldManager,vShield Manager
• vCloud Director-1, vCloud Director
• com.vmware.vcops, vCenter Operations Manager
• com.vmware.vadm, VMware vCenter Infrastructure Navigator

Note: The above list might not be complete, it’s based on my test-lab.

Removing a plugin

Ok, let’s now remove a plugin: Click unregister extension at the bottom of the screen:

A new windows opens; just enter the name of the plugin you want to remove. Use the “com.vmware.xyz” name, so e.g. com.vmware.vadm if you want to remove the vCenter Infrastructure Navigator. After clicking invoke methode you’re all set!

More information about removing extension can be found in VMware KB Article 1025360.