Installing VMware Tools fails with the error: Unable to start services for VMware Tools

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot install or upgrade VMware Tools on RedHat Linux.
• When attempting to start VMware Tools services, the Guest operating system daemon fails to start.
• You see the error:
  
  Guest operating system daemon: [FAILED]
  
  Unable to start services for VMware Tools
  
  Execution aborted.
  
  
• In the messages log, located at/var/log/ on the guest operating system, you see entries similar to:
  
  <Month> <Day> <time></time> wit252 vmsvc[19211]: [ warning] [vmsvc] Hostinfo_Daemonize: Lock held on PID path [/var/run/vmtoolsd.pid], error 11, not daemonizing.
  <Month> <Day> <time></time>wit252 adclient[3217]: INFO <fd:24 crond(19296)> client.crond Account management for user 'root': mapping misconfiguration. Passing user to next service module.
  <Month> <Day> <time></time>wit252 adclient[3217]: INFO <fd:24 crond(19296)> client.crond Open session for user 'root': mapping misconfiguration. Passing user to next service module.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0

Cause

This issue occurs when the current version of VMware Tools installed on the guest operating system has a lock on the /var/run/vmtoolsd.pid file. When the VMware Tools installer attempts to upgrade this file, it is unable to gain access to the file due to the preexisting lock.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, upgrade VMware Tools on the guest operating system.

To upgrade VMware Tools on the guest operating system:

1. Run this command within the terminal of the guest operating system to verify that the vmwaretoolsd.pid process is running:
   
   ps -ef | grep -i vmtoolsd.pid
   
   
2. Run this command to list the contents of /var/run/vmtoolsd.pid and confirm they match the process identified in Step #1:
   
   more /var/run/vmtoolsd.pid
   
   
3. Run this command to remove the file:
   
   rm- rf /var/run/vmtoolsd.pid
   
   
4. Restart the VMware Tools upgrade or install process.

Additional Information

VMware Tools のインストールが次のエラーで失敗する： Unable to start services for VMware Tools