Uninstalling VMware Tools after Windows upgrade from Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2019 to Windows Server 2022 causes loss of access to storage and network

Products

• VMware
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
Windows Server 2022 virtual machines, previously upgraded from Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2019 with VMware Tools installed and configured with PVSCSI controllers (not boot disk controller) and VMXNET3 adapters may encounter loss of access to storage and network on uninstallation of VMware Tools.

On Windows restart, the PVSCSI driver and VMXNET3 driver are not loaded in Device Manager, and the following device status is reported for both PVSCSI and VMXNET3:
Windows can not start this hardware device because its configuration information(in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)

Environment

VMware Tools 11.x
VMware Tools 12.0.0

Cause

VMware Tools provides the PVSCSI and VMXNET3 drivers by default. As a part of the Operating System components, Windows Server 2022 has embedded drivers for both PVSCSI and VMXNET3.

After in-place operating system upgrade from Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2019 (with VMware Tools installed) to Windows Server 2022, PVSCSI and VMXNET3 drivers continue running using the version installed by VMware Tools installed on the older Windows Version and are not overridden or replaced by the embedded drivers in Windows Server 2022.

In this scenario, uninstalling VMware Tools will uninstall its PVSCSI and VMXNET3 drivers and restore Windows embedded drivers. Due to the running drivers can't be stopped, VMware Tools installer mistakenly leave the drivers' service keys marked for delete at the next reboot, so the embedded drivers don't start after reboot, resulting lose of access to PVSCSI disks and VMXNET3 adapters.

Note: VMware Tools uninstallation process will not remove the PVSCSI driver if the system drive (Boot Disk) is on a PVSCSI controller. In this scenario, any disk, including non-system disks (not Boot Disk) residing on a PVSCSI controller, will remain accessible.

Resolution

Using Windows Device Manager, please follow the below steps:

Note:
You might not be able to connect to the Windows Server 2022 VM using Windows Remote Desktop as network connection to the VM might not be available. So you will need to open the VM in Console view. For more information, see Using a Virtual Machine Console .

1. Expand  Network Adapters.
2. Right click on vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter.
3. Click on Uninstall device. (Make sure to check mark Delete the driver software for this device.)
4. Expand Storage controllers.
5. Right click on VMware PVSCSI Controller.
6. Click on Uninstall device. (Make sure to check mark Delete the driver software for this device.)
7. Click on the Device Manager Action tab. 
8. Click on Scan for hardware changes.

Now the PVSCSI and VMXNET3 drivers will be re-installed again with Windows embedded driver versions.

Note: In case the PVSCSI and VMXNET3 drivers are updated by Windows Update before, uninstalling VMware Tools will not uninstall the two drivers.