Error: "VMware Alias Manager and Ticket Service' (VGAuthService) Failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services." received while trying to install VMWare Tools

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Unable to install VMware Tools on a Windows Server 2022 virtual machine. During the VMware Tools installation process, the installer fails with the following error message:

"Service 'VMware Alias Manager and Ticket Service' (VGAuthService) failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services."

Environment

VMware Tools 12.x

Windows 

Cause

The failure is caused by stale service entries remaining in the Windows services registry for the "VMware Alias Manager and Ticket Service" and the "VMware SVGA Helper Service" from a previous, incomplete removal of VMware Tools.

 

Resolution

• Change the virtual machine network adapter type from VMXNET3 to E1000 to maintain network connectivity while VMware Tools drivers are absent.

• Engage the Microsoft team to manually remove the stale service entries from the Windows Registry or utilize a verified third-party cleanup utility to purge all residual VMware Tools components.

• Proceed with a fresh installation of VMware Tools.