Windows Event logs generate “A timeout (30000 milisecond) was reached while waiting for a transaction response from the VMtools service.”

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• VMTools service in the Windows Operating System fails to start with a timeout error and with Event ID 7011.
• Below event logs are generated in the Windows System Event viewer.

         

Environment

VMware Tools

Cause

This issue may occur, when

• Configuration directives within Active Directory Group Policy (GPO) have the potential to unintentionally compromise the operation of the tools service.
• The operational integrity of the tools service can be inadvertently affected by Active Directory Group Policy settings.
• If the VMTools version is incompatible/lower.

Resolution

Option1: To test and confirm if a Group Policy Object (GPO) is causing the issue with the VMTools service, follow these steps:

• Isolate VM: Create a new Organizational Unit (OU) in Active Directory and ensure it has no GPOs linked to it. And move the computer object of an affected guest VM into this new OU.
• Apply Policy: On the Windows Guest OS VM, open an elevated command prompt and execute gpupdate /force
• Reboot & Verify: Reboot the VM. Upon restart, check if the VMTools service now starts successfully and check if the Event ID 7011 w.r.t VMTools still occurs.
• Identify GPO (if successful): If the service starts, run an RSOP (Resultant Set of Policy) report on both this newly isolated VM and a VM still residing in the original, problematic OU. Compare these reports to identify the specific GPO interfering with the VM tools service.

Option2: Update the VMTools to latest version.

                For more information, refer Build numbers and versions of VMware Tools

Additional Information

If the above steps do not fix the issue, then contact Microsoft Support for a comprehensive diagnostic analysis.