“VMware Tools Setup Wizard ended prematurely” error on VMware Tools installation

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

VMware Tools install fails on Windows VM with the error message "VMware Tools Setup Wizard ended prematurely.

Sample error in vmmsi.log,

<pre> MSI (s) (EC:C4) [15:15:40:894]: Invoking remote custom action. DLL: C:\Windows\Installer\MSI4395.tmp, Entrypoint: VMCreateSecureProgramDataDirectories MSI (s) (EC:1C) [15:15:40:924]: Executing op: ActionStart(Name=VM_SecureVGAuthDirs.6C78E07E_E9FD_479D_942B_CD97FB809D1E,,) operation 15:15:40: VM_SecureVGAuthDirs.6C78E07E_E9FD_479D_942B_CD97FB809D1E。 MSI (s) (EC:1C) [15:15:40:924]: Executing op: CustomActionSchedule(Action=VM_SecureVGAuthDirs.6C78E07E_E9FD_479D_942B_CD97FB809D1E,ActionType=3073,Source=BinaryData,Target=VMCreateSecureProgramDataDirectories,CustomActionData=create |C:\ProgramData\VMware\|O:SYD:PAI(A;OICIID;FA;;;SY)(A;OICIID;FA;;;BA)(A;OICIIOID;GA;;;CO)(A;OICIID;0x1200a9;;;BU)(A;CIID;DCLCRPCR;;;BU)| create |C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\ |O:SYD:PAI(A;OICI;FA;;;SY)(A;OICI;0x1200a9;;;WD)(A;OICI;FA;;;BA)| create;scrub|C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\aliasStore\ |O:BAD:P(A;;FR;;;WD)(A;;FA;;;BA)(A;;FA;;;SY)| secure;scrub|C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\backup\;C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\msgCatalogs\;C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\msgCatalogs\messages\; C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\msgCatalogs\messages\de\;C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\msgCatalogs\messages\en\;C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\msgCatalogs\messages\es\;C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VG MSI (s) (EC:14) [15:15:40:924]: Invoking remote custom action. DLL: C:\Windows\Installer\MSI43B5.tmp, Entrypoint: VMCreateSecureProgramDataDirectories MSI (s) (EC:30) [15:15:40:934]: Generating random cookie. MSI (s) (EC:30) [15:15:40:934]: Created Custom Action Server with PID 4432 (0x1150). MSI (s) (EC:9C) [15:15:40:984]: Running as a service. MSI (s) (EC:9C) [15:15:40:984]: Hello, I'm your 32bit Elevated Non-remapped custom action server. CustomAction VM_SecureVGAuthDirs.6C78E07E_E9FD_479D_942B_CD97FB809D1E returned actual error code 1603 (note this may not be 100% accurate if translation happened inside sandbox) operation end 15:15:42: InstallFinalize。return value 3。</pre> 

Environment

esxi 7.x

esxi 8.x

Cause

The related folder security is not set correctly, so the installer cannot create the necessary directory.

The error happened while creating directory under C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware\VGAuth

Resolution

Change the folder and sub-folder's security settings to match those in a VMware Tools running VM.

Additional Information

• Run following command to check related directory:

(Get-ChildItem 'C:\ProgramData\VMware\' -Recurse -Directory ) | Get-ACL | Format-List -Property PsPath, Owner, AccessToString can confirm the fold ACLs

Get-ChildItem : Access to the path 'C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth' is denied.

At line:1 char:2

+ (Get-ChildItem 'C:\ProgramData\VMware\' -Recurse -Directory ) | Get-A ...

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  + CategoryInfo     : PermissionDenied: (C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth:String) [Get-ChildItem], UnauthorizedAccessException

  + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DirUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand

• In a good installation VM, the correct output is shown below:
  
  PSPath         : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth
  Owner          : NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
  AccessToString : Everyone Allow  ReadAndExecute, Synchronize
                   NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM Allow  FullControl
                   BUILTIN\Administrators Allow  FullControl
• A VMware product fails to install with the error 1603

When installing or uninstalling a VMware product, an error 1603 may occur.

Consult the Microsoft Knowledge Base article Error 1603 when you try to install a Windows Installer package: A fatal error occurred during installation.