Disruption of VMware Tools Service Can Cause Error Messages to Appear During Virtual Machine Reboot

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

If a guest operating system crashes in a virtual machine, the VMware Tools service might fail to initialize during the reboot of the guest operating system. Typically, this occurs in virtual machines that are set to automatically reboot after a crash. During attempts to initialize the server, multiple error messages might be displayed. The messages often include the text:

conflict: guest application <name> tried to register, but it is still registered on channel <number>

The Events viewer in the Virtual Infrastructure Client (VI Client) logs an event when the virtual machine boots and the VMware Tools service fails to start.

Environment

VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0

Resolution

If the virtual machine is powered off and rebooted, the VMware Tools service should initialize normally. If this does not resolve the issue, power down the virtual machine and increase the timeout parameter under Advanced Settings.

To edit the setting:

1. Using VI Client, log in to the ESX Server host at the location of the virtual machine.
   
2. Power off the affected virtual machine.
3. Click the virtual machine in the Inventory Panel.
4. On the Summary tab for that virtual machine, click Edit Settings.
5. In the Virtual Machine Properties dialog box, click the Options tab.
6. Click Advanced.
7. Click General.
8. Click the Configuration Parameters button.
9. Click the Add Row button.
10. In the new row, add guest_rpc.tclo.timeout to the name column and add 5 to the value column.
11. Click OK.
12. Power on the affected virtual machine