VMware Tools 10.3.x and Workstation 15.5 depends on and ships Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable version 14.x. While preparing the system for VMware Tools 10.3.x or Workstation 15.5 installation, Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable is installed on the system as a prerequisite. This requires Windows operating system to be at certain service pack level. Also, Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable includes Windows Update.
Installing Windows Update on the system may take a while and may also need a system restart depending on the state of the system.
For more information, see the Microsoft article:
Note: This issue applies to only Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 and newer.
Windows operating system restart may be needed for different reasons, for versions earlier than Windows 10, it could be either due to missing Windows update (
see KB2999226 ) or due to presence of an existing older version of Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable DLL on the system that is already loaded by other applications. For Windows 10, Windows Server 2016 and later, the latter reason is a common cause of system restart.
Windows OS level prerequisites:
Windows Server 2016 |
Windows 10 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 with Microsoft update (KB2919355) |
Windows 8.1 with Microsoft update (KB2919355) |
Windows Server 2012 |
Windows 8 |
Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) |
Windows 7 SP1 |
Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) |
Windows Vista SP2 |