VMware Tools Automatic Upgrade fails with the error: vix error code = 21009
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Article ID: 341650
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Updated On:
Products
VMware vSphere ESXi
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Issue/Introduction
Symptoms:
When you are upgrading VMware Tools for a virtual machine running on VMware ESXi, you experience these symptoms:
VMware Tools Automatic Upgrade fails with the error:vix error code = 21009
This file is present on the virtual machine:Microsoft Windows C:\Windows\\Temp\\vmware-SYSTEM\\VMwareToolsUpgrader.exe Red Hat Enterprise Linux /tmp/vmware-root
In the vmware.log file, you see entries similar to:YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS:00Z| vcpu-0| I120: TOOLS INSTALL Error copying upgrader binary /usr/lib/vmware/isoimages/windows.iso::VMwareToolsUpgrader.exe (=> C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-SYSTEM\VMwareToolsUpgrader.exe) into guest, HgfsStatus = 8. YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS:00Z| vcpu-0| I120: TOOLS INSTALL renaming old C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-SYSTEM\VMwareToolsUpgrader.exe before retrying autoupgrade YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS:00Z| vcpu-0| I120: TOOLS INSTALL Having tried autoupgrade 5 times. Giving up
Environment
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x
Cause
This issue occurs due to a stale upgrade file from a previous VMware Tools upgrade.
Resolution
Workaround:
To work around this issue:
Reboot the VM
Manually upgrade VMware Tools within the Guest OS
Microsoft Windows
Log in to the virtual machine as an administrative user.
Open an elevated command prompt.
Run this command:attrib -R C:\Windows\Temp\vmware-SYSTEM\VMwareToolsUpgrader.exe
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Log in to the virtual machine as an administrative user.
Using the terminal or graphical user interface, remove the file:/tmp/vmware-root
Note : For multiple virtual machines, PowerCLI command
Invoke-VMScript can be utilized to automate the workarounds. For more information, see the
VMware PowerCLI Documentation .
Note: If the above steps does not help with Windows Guest OS, reboot the Guest VM after uninstall the exiting VMware Tools.
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