Upgrade of the VMware tools failed with error: Setup failed to install the VMXNet3 driver automatically. This driver will have to be installed manually.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Attempt to upgrade the VMware tools from 12.3.0 to 12.5.2, failed with error: Setup failed to install the VMXNet3 driver automatically.  This driver will have to be installed manually.
• Below entries found in the C:\windows\INF\vminst.log  
  • YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS| tools-build-24964629| I1: Util_GetKeyValueDWORD: Cannot query key value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\vmxnet3ndis6\DeleteFlag| winerror code 2 (The system cannot find the file specified.) 
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS| tools-build-24964629| I1: PnpDriverManager::InstallPnPDevices: Inf file C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\vmxnet3\Win8\vmxnet3.inf was installed as oem4.inf (full path C:\Windows\INF\oem4.inf) 
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS| tools-build-24964629| I1: PnpDriverManager::InstallPnPDevices: Attempting to install HID0: PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&SUBSYS_07B015AD 
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS| tools-build-24964629| I1: PnpDriverManager::InstallPnPDevices: UpdateDriverForPlugAndPlayDevicesW on ID0 (PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&SUBSYS_07B015AD) failed| HRESULT code 0x800705b4 (This operation returned because the timeout period expired.) 
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS| tools-build-24964629| E1: PnpDriverManager::InstallPnPDevices: Failed to install vmxnet3 driver| winerror code 1460 (This operation returned because the timeout period expired.) 
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS| tools-build-24964629| I0: MessageBox( 302f0, "Setup failed to install the VMXNet3 driver automatically.  This driver will have to be installed manually.", "VMware Tools Installation", 48)

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• Manual installation of the VMXNet3 driver operation also gets timed out. 

Environment

VMware Tools on Windows VM.

Cause

• The installation of VMXNet3 was failing due to corruption in Windows system image. 
• The error code 0x800705b4 (Timeout) and device problem 0x38 (CM_PROB_NEED_CLASS_CONFIG) suggest that the Windows OS unable to complete the post-install configuration for the network class.
• Logs from VM -  C:\windows\INF\setupapi.dev.log
  • dvi:Install Device: Starting device 'PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&SUBSYS_07B015AD&REV_01\FF565000F755B4FE00'. 14:38:41.562
dvi:Install Device: Starting device completed. 14:38:41.625
dvi:Device pending start: Device has problem: 0x38 (CM_PROB_NEED_CLASS_CONFIG), problem status: 0x00000000.
dvi:{Configure Device - exit(0x00000000)} 14:38:41.625
dvi:Device Status: 0x01806400, Problem: 0x38
dvi:Timed out waiting for device post-install to complete. 14:42:26.643
ndv:Device install failed for device.
ndv:Error 1460: This operation returned because the timeout period expired.

 

Resolution

Reach out to the guest OS vendor to help investigate the Windows error code: 0x800705b4.