VMWare ESXI Gripes: service-control error message not particularly useful

I posted this at the vmware support forum, whose sophisticated text processing interface decided that it knew better than me and reimagineered my pure html post into a rather flat one. I feel like venting and will do so by posting here what it should have looked like there. Note that right now it is just a bunch of WTF-like questions.

We begin this by stating the ESXi cluster in question uses Windows vcenter server; that is not by my choice. I would rather use the appliance

C:\Users\raub> "C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin\service-control" --status --all
Running:
 VMWareAfdService VMWareCertificateService VMWareDirectoryService VMwareComponentManager VMwareDNSService VMwareIdentityMgmtService VMwareSTS rhttpproxy vmon vmonapi vmware-cis-config vmware-license vmwareServiceControlAgent
Stopped:
 EsxAgentManager VMWareCAMService VServiceManager content-library mbcs vPostgres vapiEndpoint vimPBSM vmsyslogcollector vmware-autodeploy-waiter vmware-imagebuilder vmware-network-coredump vmware-perfcharts vpxd vpxd-svcs vsan-health vsphere-ui vspherewebclientsvc

C:\Users\raub>

C:\Users\raub> "C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin\service-control" --start vspherewebclientsvc
Operation not cancellable. Please wait for it to finish...
Performing start operation on service vsphere-client...
Error executing start on service vsphere-client. Details {
    "detail": [
        {  
            "id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart",
            "translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'",
            "localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vsphere-client'",
            "args": [
                "vsphere-client"
            ]
        }
    ],
    "resolution": null,
    "problemId": null,
    "componentKey": null
}
Service-control failed. Error: {
    "detail": [
        {
            "id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart",
            "translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'",
            "localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vsphere-client'",
            "args": [
                "vsphere-client"
            ]
        }
    ],
    "resolution": null,
    "problemId": null,
    "componentKey": null
}

C:\Users\raub>

I understand that "An error occurred while starting service 'vsphere-client'", but what is it? Maybe the log file is more helpful. https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2121043 claims log dir is

C:\ProgamData\VMware\vCenterServer\logs\vsphere-client\logs\

But I can see lots of directories in there but the log one:

C:\Users\raub>dir  "C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\"
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is F020-F58F

 Directory of C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server

05/21/2018  07:36 PM    <DIR>          .
05/21/2018  07:36 PM    <DIR>          ..
05/21/2018  07:11 PM    <DIR>          apachetomcat
05/21/2018  07:15 PM    <DIR>          autodeploy
05/21/2018  07:17 PM    <DIR>          bin
05/21/2018  07:13 PM    <DIR>          cis-license
05/21/2018  07:10 PM    <DIR>          cis_upgrade_runner
05/21/2018  07:13 PM    <DIR>          cm
05/21/2018  07:10 PM    <DIR>          common-jars
05/21/2018  07:10 PM    <DIR>          common-libs
05/21/2018  07:15 PM    <DIR>          content-library
05/21/2018  07:15 PM    <DIR>          eam
05/21/2018  07:36 PM    <DIR>          eula
05/21/2018  07:12 PM    <DIR>          fips
05/21/2018  07:21 PM    <DIR>          firstboot
05/21/2018  07:15 PM    <DIR>          imagebuilder
05/21/2018  07:10 PM    <DIR>          jmemtool
05/21/2018  07:10 PM    <DIR>          jre
05/21/2018  07:12 PM    <DIR>          jre_ext
05/21/2018  07:15 PM    <DIR>          mbcs
05/21/2018  07:13 PM    <DIR>          netdump
05/21/2018  07:10 PM    <DIR>          openSSL
04/09/2018  01:24 PM         7,398,602 open_source_license.txt
05/21/2018  07:16 PM    <DIR>          perfcharts
05/21/2018  07:11 PM    <DIR>          python
05/21/2018  07:16 PM    <DIR>          python-modules
05/21/2018  07:13 PM    <DIR>          rhttpproxy
05/21/2018  07:12 PM    <DIR>          ruby
05/21/2018  07:15 PM    <DIR>          rvc
05/21/2018  07:13 PM    <DIR>          sca
05/21/2018  07:09 PM    <DIR>          TlsReconfigurator
05/21/2018  07:13 PM    <DIR>          vapi
04/09/2018  01:24 PM            25,214 vcs.ico
05/21/2018  07:14 PM    <DIR>          virgo
05/21/2018  07:12 PM    <DIR>          visl-integration
05/21/2018  07:12 PM    <DIR>          vmafdd
05/21/2018  07:12 PM    <DIR>          vmcad
05/21/2018  07:15 PM    <DIR>          vmcamd
05/21/2018  07:12 PM    <DIR>          vmdird
05/21/2018  07:13 PM    <DIR>          vmdns
05/21/2018  07:13 PM    <DIR>          vmon
05/21/2018  07:15 PM    <DIR>          vmsyslogcollector
05/21/2018  07:13 PM    <DIR>          VMware Identity Services
05/21/2018  07:11 PM    <DIR>          vmware-sasl
04/25/2018  01:20 PM    <DIR>          vmware-sps
05/21/2018  07:13 PM    <DIR>          vmware-sso
05/21/2018  07:14 PM    <DIR>          vPostgres
05/21/2018  07:25 PM    <DIR>          vpxd
05/21/2018  07:14 PM    <DIR>          vpxd-svcs
05/21/2018  07:32 PM    <DIR>          vsan-health
05/21/2018  07:34 PM    <DIR>          vsm
05/21/2018  07:16 PM    <DIR>          vsphere-client
05/21/2018  07:17 PM    <DIR>          vsphere-ui
               2 File(s)      7,423,816 bytes
              51 Dir(s)  69,727,727,616 bytes free

C:\Users\raub>

C:\Users\raub>dir  "C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\logs"
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is F020-F58F

 Directory of C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server

File Not Found

C:\Users\raub>

Where can I find where vcenter thinks the log files are at?

If you want to see how the ticket looks like at vmware, https://communities.vmware.com/message/2796432#2796432. Try to read the version posted at vmware and you will understand why I am frustrated.