Installing VMware Tools in a Virtual Machine fails prematurely shortly after seeing "Rolling Back Action"

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Issue Clarification: One VM that is refusing to install VMWare Tools.

Issue Verification: Tried deploying from vCenter by mounting the same iso all the other VMs used, process starts, then towards the end the wizard says "rolling back action" then says the install ended prematurely because of an error (though it doesn't specify an error code or message or anything).  

Tried downloading the VMware Tools installer and running it directly, but got the same behavior.  
Rebooted the VM but the issue persists.

Environment

8.0 U2 vCenter Server

Originally failed with 12.4 VMware Tools, then with any version of VMware Tools tried after that.

Cause

A log file in the VMware VGAuth folder is without permissions and failing the installation.

Inside the Windows Guest OS, in the %temp%/vminst.log file a snippet similar to the following may be found:

MSI (s) (C8:D0) [13:08:16:132]: Executing op: CustomActionSchedule(Action=VM_SecureVGAuthDirs.6C78E07E_E9FD_479D_942B_CD97FB809D1E,ActionType=3073,Source=BinaryData,Target=VMCreateSecureProgramDataDirectories,CustomActionData=create      |C:\ProgramData\VMware\|O:SYD:PAI(A;OICIID;FA;;;SY)(A;OICIID;FA;;;BA)(A;OICIIOID;GA;;;CO)(A;OICIID;0x1200a9;;;BU)(A;CIID;DCLCRPCR;;;BU)|
                        create      |C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\    |O:SYD:PAI(A;OICI;FA;;;SY)(A;OICI;0x1200a9;;;WD)(A;OICI;FA;;;BA)|
                        create;scrub|C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\aliasStore\       |O:BAD:P(A;;FR;;;WD)(A;;FA;;;BA)(A;;FA;;;SY)|
                        secure;scrub|C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\backup\;C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\msgCatalogs\;C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\msgCatalogs\messages\;
                                     C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\msgCatalogs\messages\de\;C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\msgCatalogs\messages\en\;C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\msgCatalogs\messages\es\;C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VG
MSI (s) (C8:BC) [13:08:16:148]: Invoking remote custom action. DLL: C:\WINDOWS\Installer\MSI16E6.tmp, Entrypoint: VMCreateSecureProgramDataDirectories
MSI (s) (C8:B8) [13:08:16:148]: Generating random cookie.
MSI (s) (C8:B8) [13:08:16:161]: Created Custom Action Server with PID 16092 (0x3EDC).
MSI (s) (C8:B4) [13:08:16:239]: Running as a service.
MSI (s) (C8:48) [13:08:16:243]: Hello, I'm your 32bit Elevated Non-remapped custom action server.
CustomAction VM_SecureVGAuthDirs.6C78E07E_E9FD_479D_942B_CD97FB809D1E returned actual error code 1603 (note this may not be 100% accurate if translation happened inside sandbox)
Action ended 13:08:16: InstallFinalize. Return value 3.

Inside the Windows Guest OS, in the %temp%/vmmsi.log file a snippet similar to the following may be found:

2024-05-30T13:08:16.281-07:00| tools-build-17901274| I0: ScrubSecureDirectoryWorker: ERROR: C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\logfile.txt.0's file SDDL string 'O:S-1-5-21-2833645045-3033678004-279473688-28795D:NO_ACCESS_CONTROL' lacks ACLs (80070057)

Running the following command produces the output that confirms there are no permissions set on this file:

icacls "C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\logfile.txt.0

Resolution

Move the file logfile.txt.0 out of this folder (C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VGAuth\) and onto the desktop or other place in case it needs to be replaced or reviewed.

Run the VMware Tools installer again.  This allows for a successful installation of VMware Tools