The VMware Tools installation fails, and the network connection is lost in the virtual machine when using the vmxnet3 adapter

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• The manual upgrade of VMware Tools fails (e.g., from version 12.3.5 to 12.5.2 or 12.5.3).
• After the upgrade, the network connection is lost in the virtual machine (VM) when using the vmxnet3 adapter.
• VMware Tools is uninstalled.
• The driver fails to install due to an "Access is denied" error, the following error is observed: 

vminst.log:

<YYYY-MM-DD> <Time>| tools-build-24819442| E1: PnpDriverManager::InstallPnPDevices: Failed to install inf C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\video_wddm\Win8\vm3d.inf| HRESULT code 0x80070005 (Access is denied.)

setupapi.dev.log:

>>>  [SetupCopyOEMInf - C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\video_wddm\Win8\vm3d.inf]

......

!!!  flq:           Error installing file (0x00000005)
!!!  flq:           Error 5: Access is denied.
!    flq:                SourceFile   - 'C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\video_wddm\Win8\vm3ddevapi64-stats.dll'
!    flq:                TargetFile   - 'C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\Temp\{########-####-####-####-############}\vm3ddevapi64-stats.dll'
!!!  cpy:           Failed to copy file 'C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\video_wddm\Win8\vm3ddevapi64-stats.dll' to 'C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\Temp\{########-####-####-####-############}\vm3ddevapi64-stats.dll'. Error = 0x00000005

......

<<<  [Exit status: FAILURE(0x00000005)]

Environment

VMware Tools 13.x
VMware Tools 12.x
VMware Tools 11.x

Resolution

Retry the VMware Tools installation; it usually succeeds after one or two attempts.

Contact the Guest OS vendor to determine the cause, which is typically related to security software or a permission issue.

Note: If a case is opened with Broadcom, refer to the Additional Information section to collect and upload the required logs.

Additional Information

To avoid losing logs, before reverting to an old snapshot, try to create a clone of the VM in bad status or take another snapshot of the VM in bad status for further investigation.

Or

If reinstalling VMware Tools resolves the issue, run the command below in the Windows guest OS command line and upload the generated vmsupport-*.zip file once it is created.

"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\vm-support.vbs"

Also, collect and upload the ESXi support bundle.