Cause
The cause of this issue is currently unknown and is under investigation. To help identify the cause, report this issue to VMware Support and provide answers to the following questions:
- What version of the tools is it upgrading from?
- What version of the tools is it upgrading to?
- What method is being used to upgrade the tools?
To determine the previous versions of the VMware Tools that were installed on the system, open the Microsoft Windows event viewer and search for Event Source of MsiInstaller and Event ID of 1034. For more information on viewing events, see the Microsoft TechNet article Filter Displayed Events.
Workaround
Note: This procedure modifies the Windows registry. Before making any registry modifications, ensure there is a current and valid backup of the registry and the virtual machine. For more information on backing up and restoring the registry, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article Windows registry information for advanced users.
Windows XP virtual machines
- Start the virtual machine and log in as the Administrator.
- Open the Windows Registry editor. Click Start > Run, type regedit, and press Enter .
- Take a full backup of the registry prior to editing it. Do not skip this step
- Delete these registry keys if they exist:
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Features\C2A6F2EFE6910124C940B2B12CF170FE
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\C2A6F2EFE6910124C940B2B12CF170FE
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Features\C2A6F2EFE6910124C940B2B12CF170FE
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\C2A6F2EFE6910124C940B2B12CF170FE
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\C2A6F2EFE6910124C940B2B12CF170FE
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{FE2F6A2C-196E-4210-9C04-2B1BC21F07EF}
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.
Note: If the key is not present in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\, verify the subfolders present in the particular registry folder.
Windows 2003 virtual machines
- Start the virtual machine and log in as the Administrator.
- Open the Windows Registry editor. Click Start > Run, type regedit, and press Enter .
- Take a full backup of the registry prior to editing it. Do not skip this step
- Delete these registry keys if they exist:
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Features\005014B32081E884E91FB41199E24004
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\005014B32081E884E91FB41199E24004
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Features\005014B32081E884E91FB41199E24004
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\005014B32081E884E91FB41199E24004
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Components\0B150AC107B12D11A9DD0006794C4E25
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{3B410500-1802-488E-9EF1-4B11992E0440}
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.
- Some services must be removed manually from the registry. Delete these as well if they exist:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VMTools
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VMUpgradeHelper
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VMware Physical Disk Helper Service
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vmvss
Windows Server 2008 R2 virtual machines
- Start the virtual machine and log in as the Administrator.
- Open the Windows Registry editor. Click Start > Run, type regedit, and press Enter .
- Take a full backup of the registry prior to editing it. Do not skip this step
- Delete these registry keys if they exist:
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Features\C2A6F2EFE6910124C940B2B12CF170FE
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\C2A6F2EFE6910124C940B2B12CF170FE
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{D86ADE52-C4D9-4B98-AA0D-9B0C7F1EBBC8}
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\C2A6F2EFE6910124C940B2B12CF170FE
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{FE2F6A2C-196E-4210-9C04-2B1BC21F07EF}
Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 2012 Server virtual machines
- Start the virtual machine and log in as the Administrator
- Open the Windows Registry editor. Click Start > Run, type regedit, and press Enter
- Take a full backup of the registry prior to editing it. Do not skip this step
- Delete these registry keys if they exist
Note: On Windows 8, it is required to type the preceding command within the Run prompt. This can be accessed by using the following hot key combination, Windows Key + R.
- Delete these registry keys if they exist:
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Features\B634907914A56494B87EA24A33AC1F80
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\B634907914A56494B87EA24A33AC1F80
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{D86ADE52-C4D9-4B98-AA0D-9B0C7F1EBBC8}
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Features\B634907914A56494B87EA24A33AC1F80
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\B634907914A56494B87EA24A33AC1F80
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\B634907914A56494B87EA24A33AC1F80
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{9709436B-5A41-4946-8BE7-2AA433CAF108}
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.
Windows 10, Windows 2016 and Windows 2019 Virtual Machine
- Start the virtual machine and log in as the Administrator
- Open the Windows Registry editor. Click Start > Run, type regedit, and press Enter
- Take a full backup of the registry prior to editing it. Do not skip this step
- Delete these registry keys if they exist
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Features\FABCF247D5EE2B84E959AD50317B5907
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\FABCF247D5EE2B84E959AD50317B5907
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Features\FABCF247D5EE2B84E959AD50317B5907
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\FABCF247D5EE2B84E959AD50317B5907
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\FABCF247D5EE2B84E959AD50317B5907
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Uninstall\{The code in the curly braces}
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc
5. Post editing the above registry, delete the “VMware Tools” folder from the installation path. Default install path is C:\Program Files\VMware\
6. Reboot machine
All Windows virtual machines
- Search the registry for vmware and delete all associated entries.
Note: On virtual machines with any other VMware products installed (for example, vCenter Server), don't delete all entries. If there is another VMware product installed, skip this step if the entries in the previous procedures have already been removed.
- Close the registry editor.
- Open Windows Explorer.
- Delete the %ProgramFiles%\VMware\VMware Tools folder.
- Restart the virtual machine.
- Install the new version of VMware Tools.
Notes: