Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable has stopped working during vmtools installation

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

During a VMTools upgrade or installation on a Windows Operating system the C++ redistributable will fail / stop working.  

From the vminst.log within the OS you will see an error similar to the following: 

Child exited with code 3221225477
Process returned -1073741819
Launching VC dll installer failed with -1073741819
Setup Cannot Continue.  The Microsoft Runtime DLL installer failed...

From the Application Events from the OS you may see errros similar to the following: 

Faulting application name: vcredist_x64.exe, version: 14.40.33816.0
Faulting Module name: wixstdba.dll, version 3.14.8722.0
Exception code: 0xc0000005

 

The same error is encountered when trying to install a C++ redistributable (any version) downloaded from Microsoft directly.

Environment

vCenter 8.x

ESX 8.x

Windows Server OS

Cause

Error code 1073741819 and exception code 0xc0000005 are typically related to memory or Access Violation errors.  

Resolution

Microsoft should be engaged for further investigation of the installation error.