Installing VMware Tools on a Windows virtual machine fails with the error: The Microsoft Runtime DLL installer failed to complete installation

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• You cannot install VMware Tools on a Windows virtual machine.
• Installation of VMware Tools on a Windows virtual machine fails with the error:
  Setup cannot continue. The Microsoft Runtime DLL installer failed to complete installation.
• In the Windows Application Event logs, you see the error:
  Product: Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.4148 -- Error 1327.Invalid Drive: H:\
• The registry information for the Windows virtual machine appears similar to:
  Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
  Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version
  Name: CommonFilesDir
  Value: H:\Program Files\Common Files
  Note: The Value field may list another drive letter.

Cause

This issue occurs if a manual reconfiguration or a group policy change on the virtual machine has changed the location where the files are to be installed.
For example, if the install location was changed to H:\Program Files\Common Files , but the virtual machine cannot access the H: drive, the VMware Tools installation will fail.

Resolution

The install location is defined in the CommonFilesDir registry key.
To resolve this issue, change the Value field of the CommonFilesDir registry key to a drive letter that is available on the virtual machine.
To change the Value field of the registry key:

Note: This procedure modifies the Windows registry. Before making any registry modifications, ensure that you have a current and valid backup of the registry and the virtual machine. For more information on backing up and restoring the registry, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

1. Click Start > Run, type regedit , and click OK. The Registry Editor window opens.
2. Navigate to:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\
3. Double-click the CommonFilesDir key, and edit the Value string to reflect the valid drive letter.
   For example, if the C: drive is available to the virtual machine, change the CommonFilesDir Value string to:
   C:\Program Files\Common files
4. Click OK.
5. Click File > Exit to close the Registry Editor.
6. Install VMware Tools to verify. For more information on installing VMware Tools, see General VMware Tools installation instructions (315363).

Note: If your problem persists, file a support request with VMware by Broadcom Support and note this Knowledge Base article ID (308287) in the problem description. For more information, see Creating and managing Broadcom support cases. 

Workaround:
If you ran into this issue due to windows updates. Resolution for this case as follows:

1. Find and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS
2. Right-click COMPONENTS and click Export.
3. In the File Name box, type COMPONENTS.
4. In the Save in box, click Desktop, and then click Save to save the file to your desktop.
5. In the details pane, right-click PendingXmlIdentifier, and then click Delete. If this value does not exist, go to the next step.
6. In the details pane, right-click NextQueueEntryIndex, and then click Delete. If this value does not exist, go to the next step.
7. In the details pane, right-click AdvancedInstallersNeedResolving, and then click Delete. If this value does not exist, go to the next step.
8. Restart the computer.
9. Also if you run the vcdislist.exe and try and install the Microsoft distribution list you may encounter an error.