Cannot update Tools - Workstation 7.0 203739

[pavel-a]

Why Workstation 7.0 cannot update the Tools?

Normally I work under a power user account (not admin).

When I start a Windows guest VM, it offers to download the tools, it goes OK.

Then it says it needs my admin credentials (hmm, with all these services it installed, it still needs admin credentials??)

I enter the admin username and password but it never succeeds to pass thru this point, it prompts again and again.

Believe me, the password is correct

So annoying.

/ P.

[jbudreau]

Hello,

Can you clear out any ".log" files from your %temp% directory and attempt to update Tools again? Once you run into the issue where you are continually being prompted for credentials look into your %temp% directory and see if there any log files created. If so, attach these logs to this post and we can take a look to see if there's anything that helps us pinpoint the problem.

Thanks,

Joel

[pavel-a]

Joel,

Thank you for the idea. Cleared %temp%, but the same error occured again.

This time I've manually started update ftom the options dialog, so Tools for all OSes started to download.

Tools for Windows finished dowload first, it prompted for admin password as before, and failed as before.

But the log says it was updating tools for freebsd ?! And there were some download errors that did not appear in the UI?

Maybe this is the root case of the failure?

Meanwhile I've run Workstation as admin, and it succeeded to update.

( but then I had to reset permissions on the VM files to let access for my normal account)

Relevant part of the log:

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........................................

Mar 13 17:43:51.062: vmui| CDS: cURL error: Transferred a partial file (18)

Mar 13 17:43:51.062: vmui| cui::DownloadJobMgr::OnProgress: jobID=7 progress=0 message=An error occured for VMware Tools for Linux.

Mar 13 17:43:51.062: vmui| cui::DownloadJobMgr::OnAbort: jobID=7 cancelled=0 error=The connection to the update server was lost. Try again later and if the problem persists, contact VMware Support or your system administrator.

Mar 13 17:43:51.062: vmui| CDS: Searching for product=tools-linux version=latest build=0 arch=i386

Mar 13 17:43:51.062: vmui| CDS: Component 1 of 1 : tools-linux version 8.1.4 build 227600

Mar 13 17:43:51.062: vmui| CDS: Component install state = CDS_INSTALLED_OLDER

Mar 13 17:43:51.062: vmui| cui::DownloadJobMgr::ProcessDoneAbort: onAbort - jobID=7 cancelled=0 error=The connection to the update server was lost. Try again later and if the problem persists, contact VMware Support or your system administrator.

Mar 13 17:43:51.062: vmui| CDS: Aborting bulletin 8ba6fa8b2e62b15706c3708e7991ee42a2a0d595985f477d9554002d4748bee3, action = CDS_PROGRESS_DOWNLOAD_FAILED

Mar 13 17:43:51.062: vmui| CDS error: Failed to finish active transfer for http://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/vmw-desktop/ws/7.0.1/227600/windows/tools-linux-8.1.4.exe.tar: CDS_HTTP_CONNECTION_LOST_ERROR

Mar 13 17:52:49.703: vmui| CDS: Creating process D:\DOCUME_{1\pavel\LOCALS}1\Temp\vmware-download-06DC\cdstmp_1756_0\tools-freebsd-8.1.4.exe /s /v/qn as user admin

Mar 13 17:52:50.031: vmui| CDS error: Failed to create process: The operation completed successfully.

Mar 13 17:52:50.031: vmui| CDS: Clearing the credentials cache.

Mar 13 17:52:50.031: vmui| CDS: Re-calling application authFunc to get credentials

• here I canceled the update - P.

Mar 13 17:52:54.578: vmui| CDS warning: Execution of D:\DOCUME_{1\pavel\LOCALS}1\Temp\vmware-download-06DC\cdstmp_1756_0\tools-freebsd-8.1.4.exe /s /v/qn cancelled: no admin user name provided

Mar 13 17:52:54.578: vmui| CDS: Install for a75afc9e68f7a4b3f4a07231bf1544e3f374a350bcb3fb3502f1f88778b2d4f6 returned installerStatus 5, exitCode -1!

Mar 13 17:52:54.578: vmui| cui::DownloadJobMgr::OnProgress: jobID=9 progress=0 message=An error occured for VMware Tools for FreeBSD.

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Regards,

P.

[jbudreau]

Hey P.,

Thanks for the detailed response. We'll see if we can figure out what's going on here. While we're doing that can you upload the full log files for us as well?

Thanks,

Joel

[admin]

Pavel, thanks for the report. However to properly diagnose this issue, we need a full UI log from a run where the problem occurs. Also, if you use the new beta (http://communities.vmware.com/community/beta/ws) it will be much easier to supply you with an unofficial fix if we do manage to narrow it down.

Sorry for the inconvenience this bug caused you, and thanks for helping us squash it.

[admin]

Actually, as a wild guess: can you try using 'Administrator' instead of 'admin' in the prompt?

[pavel-a]

Thanks, would love to try the beta.

Unfortunately, just recently updated to 7.01. The update process is very disruptive.

Is complete uninstall and reinstall of ~500 MB with two reboots always nesessary?

I could not reproduce the tool update error with 7.01: when I click "Download all components now"

it says "all downloadable components are up to date". How to force downloading again?

Actually, as a wild guess: can you try using 'Administrator' instead of 'admin' in the prompt?

Nope, "admin" is the actual administrator name on the host.

Regards,

/P.

[admin]

Unfortunately, just recently updated to 7.01. The update process is very disruptive. Is complete uninstall and reinstall of ~500 MB with two reboots always nesessary?

It's not optimal, I'll agree with you. We are working on ways to make this better, but the truth is that the installer must deliver a large amount of disparate content (including our own drivers, which are not that common in software packages for Windows) and it's not straightforward to perform upgrades at this time.

>I could not reproduce the tool update error with 7.01: when I click "Download all components now" it says "all downloadable components are up to date". How to force downloading again?

I've attached a script that you should run as Administrator to clear all the downloadable updates from your system. After that, Workstation should prompt you to download those things again.

>Nope, "admin" is the actual administrator name on the host.

Trust me: Try it anyway. Windows XP in particular is extremely odd about Administrator usernames.

Still eagerly awaiting a new log Thanks for your help.

[pavel-a]

Joshua,

the log is attached - search from end

Mar 16 05:15:42.546: vmui| CDS: Creating process D:\DOCUME_{1\pavel\LOCALS}1\Temp\vmware-download-0EE8\cdstmp_3816_0\tools-netware-8.1.4.exe /s /v/qn as user admin

Mar 16 05:15:42.546: vmui| CDS error: Failed to create process: The operation completed successfully.

(and yes it is "admin", not "administrator" or "Administrator".

There's simply no such username on my machine ).

Thanks for considering making update easier...

P.