VMware Tools Setup Wizard ended prematurely - winerror code 5 (Access is denied.)

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

During the installation or upgrade of VMware Tools to version 13.0.10 the installation wizard ends prematurely:

From the vmmsi.log you may see an error related to "VM_CopySupportFiles":

MSI (s) (34:7C) [##:##:##:###]: Executing op: ActionStart(Name=VM_CopySupportFiles,,)
Action ##:##:##: VM_CopySupportFiles. 
MSI (s) (34:7C) [##:##:##:###]: Executing op: CustomActionSchedule(Action=VM_CopySupportFiles,ActionType=11265,Source=BinaryData,Target=**********,CustomActionData=**********)
MSI (s) (34:78) [##:##:##:###]: Invoking remote custom action. DLL: C:\Windows\Installer\MSI631.tmp, Entrypoint: VMCopySupportFiles
MSI (s) (34:70) [##:##:##:###]: Generating random cookie.
MSI (s) (34:70) [##:##:##:###]: Created Custom Action Server with PID 7564 (0x1D8C).
MSI (s) (34:98) [##:##:##:###]: Running as a service.
MSI (s) (34:98) [##:##:##:###]: Hello, I'm your 64bit Elevated Non-remapped custom action server.
CustomAction VM_CopySupportFiles returned actual error code 1603 (note this may not be 100% accurate if translation happened inside sandbox)
Action ended ##:##:##: InstallFinalize. Return value 3.

From the vminst.log you may see an error in reference to "Access is denied":

####-##-##T##:##:##.###-##:##| tools-build-25056151| I0: CreateNewAdminOnlyDirectory: INFO: Created %temp% subdirectory (C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Temp\SKS15D.tmp.dir)
####-##-##T##:##:##.###-##:##| tools-build-25056151| I1: MsiUtil_WriteFileFromBase16W: Attempting to write base16 data to 'C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Temp\SKS15D.tmp.dir\DIFXAPI.dll'
####-##-##T##:##:##.###-##:##| tools-build-25056151| E1: MsiUtil_WriteFileFromBase16W: Failed to create file C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Temp\SKS15D.tmp.dir\DIFXAPI.dll)| winerror code 5 (Access is denied.)

 

Environment

VMware Tools 13.0.10

Windows Server 2019

 

Cause

The VM_CopySupportFiles is used to copy DIFXAPI.dll to enable the installer to installer driver packages.  Without this file, the installation is unable to continue. There is no single cause to a "winerror code 5 (Access is denied.)" error but the most common causes are:

• Antivirus
• User permissions 
• Group Policies 

Resolution

To resolve this issue, ensure that the user account running the installation has the proper permissions and that nothing is preventing the installer from running as expected.  A review of the Windows Event logs, Antivirus logs, and user permissions should be done in conjunction with a review of the VMware Tools installer logs to pinpoint the exact cause.  

 

For further documentation on the require permissions for installing or upgrading VMware Tools within a Windows OS, see Installing and upgrading VMware Tools in vSphere

For further documentation on reviewing the Windows System Events, see Microsoft documentation: Review events and errors using Event Viewer 

For further documentation on reviewing the Windows Server Group Policies applied, see Microsoft documentation - Group Policy overview for Windows Server 

For further documentation on review of the Windows security and user configurations, see Microsoft documentation - Windows Security troubleshooting documentation for Windows Server