VMware Tools fail to install or upgrade in a Windows Guest Operating System

Products

• VMware
• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

VMware Tools fail to install or upgrade in my Windows guest operating system with these symptoms:

• The autorun feature in the guest operating system may not work correctly.
  
• You might see one of these errors:
  
  • "An error occurred during the move data process: -623 File name is ."
  • "The Vmware Tools should only be installed inside a virtual machine."

Environment

VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware ESX Server 2.5.x
VMware GSX Server 1.x (Windows)
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware Workstation 3.x (Windows)
VMware GSX Server 2.x (Windows)
VMware ESX Server 2.1.x
VMware GSX Server 2.x (Linux)
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware Workstation 3.x (Linux)
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware Workstation 4.x (Linux)
VMware GSX Server 1.x (Linux)
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware ESX Server 2.0.x
VMware Workstation 4.x (Windows)

Resolution

To resolve the issue, investigate the issue further.

Autorun Issues in a Windows Guest Operating System

In rare cases, the Windows autorun feature may not work properly in a guest operating system. If you are trying to install or upgrade VMware Tools when this occurs, the installation program on the virtual CD-ROM drive (setup.exe) does not run.

To work around this issue:

1. Boot your Windows guest operating system.
   
   
2. In the virtual machine window, click Settings > VMware Tools Install.
   
   
3. In the Windows guest operating system, open the CD-ROM drive and run the program setup.exe.
   
   Note: When you start the VMware Tools installation process, a virtual CD-ROM (ISO image) is mounted on your virtual machine's CD-ROM drive. There is no physical VMware Tools CD.

Error: An error occurred during the move data process: -623 File name is ."

If you see this error, reboot your guest operating system and install VMware Tools again.

Error: VMware Tools should only be installed inside a virtual machine

If you see this error, the virtual machine's .vmx file may be corrupt.

For more information, see

• Validating the .vmx settings of a virtual machine (1003748)
• Creating a virtual machine from an existing virtual disk in VMware Fusion (1023555)