Upgrading Workstation fails with error: "Unable to find the file bootstrap.lua"

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

• Upgrading Workstation fails
• You see the error:
  
  Unable to find the file bootstrap.lua in the installation package. This could be due to a package corruption. Verify that the package has been downloaded correctly
   
• Manually uninstalling Workstation from the Control Panel results in the same error

Environment

• VMware Workstation 10.x (Windows)
• VMware Workstation Pro 15.x (Windows)
• VMware Workstation 8.x (Windows)
• VMware Workstation 9.x (Windows)
• VMware Workstation 11.x (for Windows)
• VMware Workstation Pro 14.x (for Windows)
• VMware Workstation 7.x (Windows)

Cause

This issue can occur due to a corruption of the uninstall msi for the previous version of Workstation.

Resolution

1. Use MD5 hash to test the checksum and determine if the downloaded installer is corrupt. 
2. If the checksum displayed on the screen does not match the one displayed on VMware's download page, re-download the installer.

If the issue is not resolved:

1. Download the previous version of Workstation installer. Start the installation process using the installer downloaded in step 2 above.
2. Select the Remove option when prompted.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions. This uninstalls the older version of the product.
4. Restart the physical machine.
5. Open a command prompt and change directory to the folder that contains the uninstalled version of VMware Workstation.
6. Run the command:
   
   VMware-workstation-full-#.#.#.exe /clean
   
   Where #.#.# is the version number of workstation installer
    
7. Restart the physical machine.
8. Start the installation of the new upgrade version of VMware Workstation.

If the installation is unsuccessful after trying the steps above:

• Gather the VMware Support Script Data. For more information, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware products (1008524).
• File a support request with VMware Support.