diff --git a/labs/vcloud-director/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/domain/EntityType.java b/labs/vcloud-director/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/domain/EntityType.java
index ced3b93561..b66b2f8163 100644
--- a/labs/vcloud-director/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/domain/EntityType.java
+++ b/labs/vcloud-director/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/domain/EntityType.java
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ public class EntityType<T extends EntityType<T>> extends ResourceType<T> {
       /**
        * {@inheritDoc}
        */
+      @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
       @Override
       public Builder<T> fromResourceType(ResourceType<T> in) {
          return Builder.class.cast(super.fromResourceType(in));
diff --git a/labs/vcloud-director/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/domain/Metadata.java b/labs/vcloud-director/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/domain/Metadata.java
index 8589652fc1..11fab28010 100644
--- a/labs/vcloud-director/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/domain/Metadata.java
+++ b/labs/vcloud-director/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/domain/Metadata.java
@@ -18,9 +18,9 @@
  */
 package org.jclouds.vcloud.director.v1_5.domain;
 
-import static com.google.common.base.Objects.*;
-import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.*;
-import static org.jclouds.vcloud.director.v1_5.VCloudDirectorConstants.*;
+import static com.google.common.base.Objects.equal;
+import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
+import static org.jclouds.vcloud.director.v1_5.VCloudDirectorConstants.VCLOUD_1_5_NS;
 
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.util.Set;
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlElement;
 import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;
 
 import org.jclouds.vcloud.director.v1_5.VCloudDirectorMediaType;
-import org.jclouds.vcloud.director.v1_5.domain.MetadataEntry.Builder;
 
 import com.google.common.base.Objects;
 import com.google.common.base.Objects.ToStringHelper;
diff --git a/labs/vcloud-director/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/functions/ThrowVCloudErrorOn4xx.java b/labs/vcloud-director/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/functions/ThrowVCloudErrorOn4xx.java
index 9de694e36b..89d959711c 100644
--- a/labs/vcloud-director/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/functions/ThrowVCloudErrorOn4xx.java
+++ b/labs/vcloud-director/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/functions/ThrowVCloudErrorOn4xx.java
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ public class ThrowVCloudErrorOn4xx implements Function<Exception, Object> {
    public Object apply(Exception from) {
       Iterable<HttpResponseException> throwables = Iterables.filter(Throwables.getCausalChain(from), HttpResponseException.class);
       HttpResponseException exception = Iterables.getFirst(throwables, null);
-      if (exception != null && exception.getResponse().getStatusCode() >= 400 && exception.getResponse().getStatusCode() < 500) {
+      if (exception != null && exception.getResponse() != null && exception.getResponse().getStatusCode() >= 400 && exception.getResponse().getStatusCode() < 500) {
          try {
             Error error = JAXB.unmarshal(InputSuppliers.of(exception.getContent()).getInput(), Error.class);
             throw new VCloudDirectorException(error);
diff --git a/labs/vcloud-director/src/test/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/internal/BaseVCloudDirectorRestClientExpectTest.java b/labs/vcloud-director/src/test/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/internal/BaseVCloudDirectorRestClientExpectTest.java
index 29a4231d65..05c85183a8 100644
--- a/labs/vcloud-director/src/test/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/internal/BaseVCloudDirectorRestClientExpectTest.java
+++ b/labs/vcloud-director/src/test/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/director/v1_5/internal/BaseVCloudDirectorRestClientExpectTest.java
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@
  */
 package org.jclouds.vcloud.director.v1_5.internal;
 
-import static org.testng.Assert.*;
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertNotNull;
+import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
 
 import java.net.URI;
 
@@ -30,7 +31,9 @@ import org.jclouds.vcloud.director.v1_5.VCloudDirectorClient;
 import org.jclouds.vcloud.director.v1_5.VCloudDirectorMediaType;
 import org.testng.annotations.BeforeGroups;
 
+import com.google.common.collect.ArrayListMultimap;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMultimap;
+import com.google.common.collect.Multimap;
 import com.google.inject.Guice;
 
 /**
@@ -90,6 +93,16 @@ public class BaseVCloudDirectorRestClientExpectTest extends BaseRestClientExpect
       return getStandardRequest(method, URI.create(endpoint + path), VCloudDirectorMediaType.ANY);
    }
 
+   protected HttpRequest getStandardPayloadRequest(String method, String command, String relativeFilePath, 
+         String postMediaType) {
+      return getStandardPayloadRequest(method, URI.create(endpoint + command), relativeFilePath, postMediaType);
+   }
+   
+   protected HttpRequest getStandardPayloadRequest(String method, URI uri, String relativeFilePath, 
+         String postMediaType) {
+      return getStandardRequestWithPayload(method, uri, VCloudDirectorMediaType.ANY, relativeFilePath, postMediaType);
+   }
+   
    protected HttpRequest getStandardRequest(String method, URI uri, String mediaType) {
       return HttpRequest.builder()
             .method(method)
@@ -100,7 +113,7 @@ public class BaseVCloudDirectorRestClientExpectTest extends BaseRestClientExpect
                   .build())
             .build();
    }
-
+   
    protected HttpRequest getStandardRequestWithPayload(String method, String path, String relativeFilePath, String mediaType) {
       return getStandardRequestWithPayload(method, path, VCloudDirectorMediaType.ANY, relativeFilePath, mediaType);
    }
@@ -136,4 +149,68 @@ public class BaseVCloudDirectorRestClientExpectTest extends BaseRestClientExpect
             .payload(payloadFromResourceWithContentType(relativeFilePath, mediaType + ";version=1.5"))
             .build();
    }
+      
+   /**
+    * Implicitly adds x-vcloud-authorization header with token. 
+    * Provides convenience methods for priming a HttpRequest.Builder for vCloud testing
+    *
+    * @author danikov
+    *
+    */
+   protected class VcloudHttpRequestPrimer {
+      private Multimap<String, String> headers = ArrayListMultimap.create();
+      private HttpRequest.Builder builder = HttpRequest.builder();
+      
+      public VcloudHttpRequestPrimer() {
+      }
+
+      public VcloudHttpRequestPrimer apiCommand(String method, String command) {
+         builder.method(method).endpoint(URI.create(endpoint + command));
+         return this;
+      }
+      
+      public VcloudHttpRequestPrimer xmlFilePayload(String relativeFilePath, String mediaType) {
+         builder.payload(payloadFromResourceWithContentType(relativeFilePath, mediaType));
+         return this;
+      }
+      
+      public VcloudHttpRequestPrimer headers(Multimap<String, String> headers) {
+         this.headers.putAll(ImmutableMultimap.copyOf(checkNotNull(headers, "headers")));
+         return this;
+      }
+      
+      public VcloudHttpRequestPrimer acceptAnyMedia() {
+         return acceptMedia(VCloudDirectorMediaType.ANY);
+      }
+      
+      public VcloudHttpRequestPrimer acceptMedia(String media) {
+         return header("Accept", media);
+      }
+      
+      public VcloudHttpRequestPrimer header(String name, String value) {
+         headers.put(checkNotNull(name, "header.name"), checkNotNull(value, "header.value"));
+         return this;
+      }
+      
+      public HttpRequest.Builder httpRequestBuilder() {
+         header("x-vcloud-authorization", token);
+         builder.headers(headers);
+         return builder;
+      }
+   }
+   
+   protected class VcloudHttpResponsePrimer {
+      private HttpResponse.Builder builder = HttpResponse.builder();
+
+      public VcloudHttpResponsePrimer() {
+      }
+
+      public VcloudHttpResponsePrimer xmlFilePayload(String relativeFilePath, String mediaType) {
+         builder.payload(payloadFromResourceWithContentType(relativeFilePath, mediaType));
+         return this;
+      }
+      public HttpResponse.Builder httpResponseBuilder() {
+         return builder;
+      }
+   }
 }