VMware tools installation fails with error "VMware Product Installation Setup cannot continue. The Microsoft Runtime DLL installer failed to complete installation"
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VMware tools installation fails with error "VMware Product Installation Setup cannot continue. The Microsoft Runtime DLL installer failed to complete installation"

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Article ID: 418129

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Installation of VMware Tools on a Windows virtual machine fails with the following error message:

"VMware Product Installation Setup cannot continue. The Microsoft Runtime DLL installer failed to complete installation"

In vminst.log file, located at %TEMP%, we see entries similar to: (Alternate path c:\windows\temp\vminst.log)

BootStrapper-build-24964629| I0: Launching VC dll installer failed with 1603.
BootStrapper-build-24964629| I0: DisplayMessageBox: "VMware Product Installation" - "Setup cannot continue.  The Microsoft Runtime DLL installer failed to complete installation."
BootStrapper-build-24964629| I0: Cleaning up temp dir "C:\Windows\TEMP\{1E464966-B9CA-434A-9A35-BADFBCC7AFAD}~setup\"
BootStrapper-build-24964629| I2: Util_DeleteDirectory: Deleting [C:\Windows\TEMP\{1E464966-B9CA-434A-9A35-BADFBCC7AFAD}~setup\]
BootStrapper-build-24964629| I0: Sending rpc command 'info-set guestinfo.toolsInstallErrCode 1603' to the host
BootStrapper-build-24964629| I0: Sending rpc command 'toolinstall.installerActive 0' to the host
BootStrapper-build-24964629| I0: Failed to send rpc command 'toolinstall.installerActive 0'
BootStrapper-build-24964629| I0: Sending rpc command 'toolinstall.end 0' to the host
BootStrapper-build-24964629| I0: Setup exit code is: 1603
BootStrapper-build-24964629| W1: Util_DeleteKey: Deleting a key that isn't empty: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VmxLog"
BootStrapper-build-24964629| I1: Util_IsKeyEmpty: Failed to open key SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VmxLog
inst-build-24964629| I2: Util_FileExists: Found "C:\Windows\TEMP\vminst.log"
inst-build-24964629| I2: Util_FileExists: Did not find file/directory: "C:\Windows\TEMP\vmmsi.log"| posix code 2 (No such file or directory)
Upgrader| I1: Upgrader: Upgrader runQueued : 1, runState: 3
Upgrader| I1: Upgrader: Setup process returned 1603
Upgrader| I1: Upgrader: Exiting UpgraderLoop because we are done
Upgrader| I1: Removing file/directory: C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-SYSTEM\00007ad0\autorun.ico
Upgrader| I1: Removing file/directory: C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-SYSTEM\00007ad0\autorun.inf
Upgrader| I1: Removing file/directory: C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-SYSTEM\00007ad0\certified.txt
Upgrader| I1: Removing file/directory: C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-SYSTEM\00007ad0\manifest.txt
Upgrader| I1: Removing file/directory: C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-SYSTEM\00007ad0\Program Files
Upgrader| I1: Removing file/directory: C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-SYSTEM\00007ad0\setup.exe
Upgrader| I1: Removing file/directory: C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-SYSTEM\00007ad0\VMwareToolsUpgrader.exe
Upgrader| I1: Removing file/directory: C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-SYSTEM\00007ad0\windows.iso
Upgrader| I1: Removing empty directory: C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-SYSTEM\00007ad0
Upgrader| E1: Upgrader: To VMX: toolinstall.end 0
Upgrader| W1: Failed to send RPC to end tool install.
Upgrader| E1: Upgrader: To VMX: tools.capability.hgfs_server tools-upgrader 0
Upgrader| I1: Upgrader finished execution, now signalling event.
Upgrader| I1: Upgrader: returning [0]
Upgrader| I1: Util_IsKeyEmpty: Failed to open key SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VmxLog
Upgrader| W1: Util_DeleteKey: Deleting a key that isn't empty: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VmxLog"

Environment

Windows Virtual Machines

Cause

The issue lies within the Windows Operating System itself, where the OS is unable to correctly execute the VMware Tools installer (.exe) file.

Primarily we need "Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package is a prerequisite for installing VMware Tools" if this package is missing then you will face issue installing VMware tools, but in this case the package was still there and still tools installation would fail.

Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable

Resolution

This resolution involves extracting the installer's contents to obtain the Microsoft Software Installer (.msi) file, which can often bypass issues related to the execution of the main setup file.

Step 1: Download and Prepare the Installer

  1. Download the VMware Tools installer file (the .exe file) from the Broadcom site.

  2. Save the downloaded .exe file to a known location on the Windows Virtual Machine (e.g., C:\temp).

 

Step 2: Extract the MSI File

  1. Launch the Command Prompt in administrator mode (Right-click on Start menu navigate to Command Prompt Run as administrator).

  2. Navigate to the directory where you saved the installer file (e.g., using the cd command if needed).

  3. Run the command below to extract the contents and convert the executable to an MSI file:

    VMware-tools-##.#.#-#######-x86\_64.exe /x

    Note: Replace the example filename (VMware-tools-##.#.#-#######-x86\_64.exe) with the actual name of your downloaded installer file. The /x switch tells the installer to extract its contents.

 

Step 3: Install VMware Tools using the MSI File

  1. Once the command is executed, the extracted files, including the necessary .msi file, will be stored in the temporary location of the Windows machine.

  2. To quickly navigate to this location, open the Command Prompt and run the following command:

    %temp\%

  3. In the opened temporary folder, locate the extracted .msi file (it will typically be in a folder named with a string of random characters, e.g., {<GUID>}).

  4. Double-click on the .msi file to launch the installation wizard directly.

  5. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation of VMware Tools.

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