Automatic upgrade of VMware Tools fails to complete on a Windows Server 2008 Virtual Machine.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
When upgrading VMware Tools by enabling VM setting "Check and upgrade VMware Tools before each power on" or from host/vCenter UI/API for Windows Server 2008 SP2 VMs, if there is no interactive user session logged on, the VMware Tools upgrader process is waiting indefinitely for the exit of the 'vcredist_x86.exe' process, vminst.log grows and can run out of disk space.

Cause

The 'vcredist_x86.exe' executable bundled as part of the VMware Tools installer stops progressing and does not return.

Resolution

Currently there is no resolution to this issue.

Workaround:
Log on as an administrator account, kill the 'vcredist_x86.exe' process that has a command line similar to:

    'c:\vcredist_x86.exe" /quiet /noRestart -burn.unelevated BurnPipe.{32940ADA-3765-4E48-8624-3DB276BB8083} {D6A63D73-EE4C-4698-8D19-C926D5E854A4} 1088'

The VMware Tools upgrader process should then complete successfully. After that, check vminst.log file size under system temp folder, delete it to reclaim disk space.

VM setting "Check and upgrade VMware Tools before each power on" should not be enabled for Windows Server 2008 SP2 VMs, you can perform an interactive upgrade of VMware Tools in the VMs.

Note: This is issue does not happen on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 VMs.