Upgrading VMware Tools on a Windows 2008 R2 system using Update Manager fails with the error: One or more services are disabled

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot upgrade VMware Tools in a Windows 2008 R2 system using VMware vCenter Update Manager 4.1 Update 2
• Upgrading VMware Tools fails
• In the VMinstal.log file, located at %temp%, you see entries similar to:

tools-build-341836: 10/10/11 13:31:46 VMDisplayVSSRqdSvcsWarning: One or more services are disabled.
tools-build-341836: 10/10/11 13:31:46 Cannot query key value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\Wnd: 2
tools-build-341836: 10/10/11 13:31:46 MessageBox( 20096, "Setup has detected that one or more required services (Com+ System Application; Distributed Transaction Coordinator) is currently disabled. If you proceed with this installation, the Volume Shadow Copy Services Support feature cannot be installed. You may continue with this setup without installing this feature or quit setup, enable these services, and run setup again.
Do you wish to proceed without installing Volume Shadow Copy Services Support?", "VMware Tools Installation", 4)
tools-build-341836: 10/10/11 13:31:46 MessageBox returned 1
tools-build-341836: 10/10/11 13:31:46 VMDisplayVSSRqdSvcsWarning: User chooses to continue without installing VSS.
tools-build-341836: 10/10/11 13:31:46 End Logging

• Configuration Management Service shows Com+ System Application and Distributed Transaction Coordinator as started

Environment

VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded

Cause

This issue occurs when the VMware Tools service account is set to System.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, change the VMware Tools service account from System to Local Administrator.

This ensures that VMware Tools gets successfully upgraded. After the upgrade, the VMware Tools service account is reset to System.