It appears that the workaround above is still required. No biggie, in fact, I learned something about how to start vCO.
However, the lab is still not working well for me. I respectfully submit the following:
1) The lab manual is in need of a proofreading . Lots of typos. This issue plagued many of the labs at VMworld this year (2012). It just doesn't look professional at all.
2) If I click on a picture in the manual (so as to view a larger version - the picture in the manual is unreadable at that resolution), the enlarged version covers the screen and connot be closed to get back to the console. This enlarge and close trick worked in a couple of the other labs I have done.
3) I have run through the lab about 5 times now, and it always hangs up at some point. I am getting further each time, so perhaps I'll try a few more times.
As for the HOL in general, I am really excited that this is being offered, but it is not yet ready for primetime. I understand that this is the very definition of "Beta" and so, that's cool. Keep working on it guys! It has amazing potential.
Thanks for your time and continued efforts, all you VMware HOL guys. I will continue to work with them and submit more feedback as warranted.
Mike Sims