Affected Windows OS versions:
Note: Please take a snapshot before any critical action.
1. Launch a cmd.exe window with Administrator privilege and run:
"pnputil -e"
2. The generated output will contain items like this:
Published name : oem5.inf
Driver package provider : VMware, Inc.
Class : Storage controllers
Driver date and version : 06/18/2021 1.3.18.0
Signer name : Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher
3. If the report shows a matching entry for driver date and version:
"06/18/2021 1.3.18.0"
record the published oem file name e.g., "oem5.inf"
4. Run the utility again with the following arguments:
"pnputil -f -d oem5.inf" to remove it.
5. Go to Windows Device Manager | Storage Controllers | VMware PVSCSI Controller, right-click Properties, click Driver | Roll Back Driver
If there is no PVSCSI driver in the system to roll back to, upgrade to the latest VMware Tools version 11.3.5. If the VM is already running this version, install it again in Repair mode.
6. You can ignore Windows Update 'pending restart' state and driver update history, reboot is not immediately required for PVSCSI driver changes.
1. Download VMware Tools 11.3.5 ISO
https://customerconnect.vmware.com/en/downloads/details?downloadGroup=VMTOOLS1135&productId=1073&rPId=74478
or
https://packages.vmware.com/tools/releases/11.3.5/windows/VMware-tools-windows-11.3.5-18557794.iso
https://packages.vmware.com/tools/releases/11.3.5/windows/VMware-tools-windows-11.3.5-18557794.iso.sha
https://packages.vmware.com/tools/releases/11.3.5/windows/VMware-tools-windows-11.3.5-18557794.iso.sig
2. Attach the ISO file to the problematic VM's CD/DVD device
3. Boot into Windows recovery mode
diskpart
list volume
exit
Assume D: is the CD ISO drive letter:
for 64bit OS
d:
cd "Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\Drivers\pvscsi\Win8\amd64"
drvload .\pvscsi.inf
for 32bit OS
d:
cd "Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\Drivers\pvscsi\Win8\i386"
drvload .\pvscsi.inf
4. If the OS disk is PVSCSI disk, run the diskpart command again to find out the OS disk drive letter. Assume E: is the OS drive letter:
dism /image:E:\ /get-drivers
5. Search for output similar as below:
Published name : oem5.inf
Driver package provider : VMware, Inc.
Class : Storage controllers
Driver date and version : 06/18/2021 1.3.18.0
Signer name : Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher
"06/18/2021 1.3.18.0" is the one, record the published oem file name "oem5.inf".
6. Next, remove the driver with this Dism command line:
dism /image:E:\ /remove-driver /driver:oem5.inf
Now run Dism utility to add the PVSCSI driver from Tools ISO:
dism /image:E:\ /add-driver /driver:".\pvscsi.inf"
7. Finally, double check whether E:\Windows\System32\drivers\pvscsi.sys is same as the one in Tools ISO, if not, overwrite it:
"dir .\pvscsi.sys" shows
08/31/2021 03:14 AM 64,136 pvscsi.sys
If "dir E:\Windows\System32\drivers\pvscsi.sys" shows
10/15/2021 10:58 AM 55,496 pvscsi.sys
then run "copy .\pvscsi.sys E:\Windows\System32\drivers\" to overwrite E:\Windows\System32\drivers\pvscsi.sys.
With all the above succeed, you can exit by running:
exit
8. Click Continue on Choose an option screen. The system should be able to boot now.