VMWare Tools Will Not Install in Windows 7 VM on Host without DVD

[HJLBX]

You know, it's pretty retarded at this point that VMWare does not have explicit instructions on how to fix this situation given the fact that DVDs are like ancient tech that no one uses any longer.

Easy Install installs VMWare Tools when using a W10 iso and VMWare Tools runs, but the menu "Reinstall VMWare Tools" is always greyed out.

Easy Install might or might not install VMWare tools when using any W7 iso (mostly not, and the error appears at the bottom of the VM saying to use the "Reintall VMWare Tools" but that menu option is greyed out).

Host, W10 1903 x64. SSD only. No DVD and I don't have one.

Workstation Pro 15

Workstation Pro 15 is set to detect and use the SSD (SATA) but every single time Workstation Pro throws the error that it cannot connect as no such device (CD\DVD) is installed on the host. Workstation Pro 15 prevents changing the CD\DVD settigs. They are all greyed out.

I am only interested in step-by-step, how-to instructions to solve this problem.

[HJLBX · Accepted solution]

SOLUTION:

1. Shutdown VM

2. Settings > CD\DVD > Advanced > SATA > in the drop-down menu switch it from SATA0:1 CD\DVD to SATA0:0

Despite Workstation Pro being set to Auto Detect the SSD, it doesn't bother to switch from SATA0:1 to SATA0:0

It isn't foolproof. I still see weirdness with Workstation Pro sometimes notifying that no such device exists on the host, but at least the "Reinstall VMWare Tools" option becomes active in the menu and can be reinstalled.

Pretty retarded Workstation Pro.

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[continuum]

Hi

I see you are on a venting mission today. I hope you enjoy yourself and are making progress.

No need to tell you again that your attitude is unwise if you really want help in this forum.

Anyway - if you are looking for things that fit the description you picked yourself :"retarted"
what about adding one more item to your list of retarded items?

- Using ancient technology like DVD: check

- Not realising, that exchanging iso-files with a guest is a complete different thing: check

-Demanding an explanation in baby steps while offending those that read your post and could eventually help you " check

Hope that helps

Ulli

[HJLBX]

You need to take a close look at who is being offensive in the first place.

It would do a lot of you "volunteers" some good to think about this... The reason I ask for step-by-step, how-to only explanations is because there are people on these forums that, instead of just limiting their replies to providing the solution that is asked for, they instead want to preach and pontificate. 90% of these forums are filled with threads where the question the OP posts is never answered because the person who replied is posting some pointless drivel. Many of us out here find those behaviors extremely offensive. We're here because VMWare provides atrocious documentation and support. Believe me, most of us don't want to be here. We're only interested in getting nothing but the solution to the problem that we posted. We don't want commentary, personal opinions, and lectures. I am not going to co-sign the volunteer bullshit that happens here where individuals talk down to those that don't know. It's an abusive pattern here. Many people who come here are just typical users that just happen to use a VMWare product and are having difficulty. We don't come here to be preached to by those that have VMWare expertise and then lord that expertise and opinions over us. If the people who are supposedly here to help can't cope with these facts, then they shouldn't be here. Period. The "volunteers" here have an obnoxious attitude that those of us who come here owe them something. I've seen it just about every single time that I've been here. And many others who have come here and had a bad experience have commented about it as well. So if you say I'm the problem then you just prove what I am saying about this place. Sure, I am grateful for a clear, specific, to-the-point solution that answers the question I asked. But anyone implying that any of us who come here owe anyone anything ... nope. It doesn't work that way. Not on any other community that I've ever participated in. So the real problem on these forums begins with many of the "volunteers".

[continuum]

Hey - now we can talk.

Just had a little break and had planned to ask in the hidden moderator forum for a written summary of the VMware support policy.

Not to use that as ammunition against guys like you - not at all.

Exactly the opposite:

Honestly I assume that if I ever have the chance to really look at a written summary of the VMware support policy it will look like this:

Apparently our customers request a Support and a Documentation department.

This will be an investment that does not pay out so lets make it as cheap as possible and see if we get away with it.

Lets also make sure that documentation and support dont cooperate - that will only result in extra costs.

Somehow I still hope that I am wrong about that but I am very likely fooling myself and just dont want to realize that I wasted the last 16 years chasing an illusion.

And now I will tell you something that you probably will not believe.

I am really a volunteer - I had the bad luck of discovering VMware Workstation and the BartPE LiveCD in a single week.

I immediatly thought: this belongs together and fell in love with VMware. So I became a VMTN junkie in 2002 / 2003.

During the first ten years I was in a quite luxuary position : I had a super boring factory job from 6 to 14:00.

In the first years I never had to think about moneyand in 2004 I proudly released my first own development: a construction kit that created a Windows LiveCD that loaded itself into memory and then enabled the user to run VMs from USB, harddisk or where ever. Fully portable and as the size was just 300 MB for Windows and Workstation combined that little system was superfast.

I really thought that my idea could change the way homeusers operate computers. The next 6 or 7 years I needed no fragile Windows on harddisk installation at all.

.... In hindsight the next 4 or 6 years were the most rewarding one - not because the project earned me any money - not at all - but because it felt good to proove all the guys that had told me that "my idea was impossible" wrong.

Due to my boring factory job at that time I could afford to hang around in VMTN seven days a week from 3 in the afternoon until 3 in the night.

Back in those days this hobby did not have to produce any money and so no external factors existed that could have cured my VMTN addiction.

While spending so much time here I learned a lot and even started to write open letters to the president  complaining about poor working conditions in VMTN.

I really though I could have a positive impact on support and documentation ...

How could you be so naiv you may ask - spot on. Today I dont know what really made me misjudge the situation so completely.

I really thought that I - some strange guy from germany could have a positive impact.

I even assumed that doing my job - and in a strange way I really had accepted the work that I thought I was doing as my task.

I started to document vmxparameters and stuff like that ....

Stupid me.

Anyway - dont want to bore you ...

I agree with you in many of your points: only difference is : I am not a paying customer like you - I am the prototype of a "volunteer"

I assumed that VMTN is a community that shared the same attitude to support that I had in mind.

Unfortunately I have to realize today - that I was totally wrong.

Damn - I know that writing posts like this is not good for my mental health - but I repeat the same mistake over and over again.

Just let me mention one more aspect that you also complained about.

You said a large percentage of answers is written by users that post here for the wrong reasons.

That is by design - several years ago VMware thought that the VMTN is not working as good as it should.

So they invented an award labelled vExpert and gave it away for users that are very active here.

So we have a large number of posters that see posting here as am easy shortcut for getting some certificate with nice signature with almost no effort.

I hate that system with a passion - the result after several years of the "reward point system" is IMHO a desaster.

A new user that does not know the good guys by name has a good chance to get his question answered by a "point hunter"

Those guys read your question - enter it in  google and try to get your rewardpoints by posting the google result without any mercy.

For a VMTN dinosaur like me the results have nothing to do with the reasons I had in mind when I became an addict in 2003.

Just one more detail from my side of the counter.

Several months ago I tried to get one part of the existing documentation deleted.

My argument was : that knowledgebase instructions are dangerous, inappropriate and I usually find my self in the situation that later has to teach the user the user that he should better not trust the knowledgebase.

I used my moderator rank to push the issue and even offered to write a replacement myself.

Result: zero - I was not even asked why that KB is dangerous bullshit.

So you are not alone - this community is not in a healthy state - and I see no reasons to assume this to be just a temporary problem.

And by the way - feel free to call me via skype if you need support.

I still feel 100% loyal to VMware users.

But dont try that if you are in the mood of your first post today ....

Ulli

[HJLBX]

Thank you.

IT is not good for mental health. Especially when dealing with companies like VMWare, CISCO, Microsoft, and so on. And I'm not talking about trivial support items. I'm talking about things involving thousands and thousands of Euros.

By the time I get here I've already spent hours searching through VMWare's KBs - documents that go back decades, written for obsolete products. The same questions about VMWare products get asked literally hundreds of times every year. And the thing that disappoints and angers me are the people here who know the answer, yet won't provide it. I will give you a perfect example... the question of how to ping one VM from another has been asked literally hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Immediately some smartass volunteer replies "That's not a VMWare issue. It is a Windows networking issue." Then when the OP asks "Well, how do I solve this ?" the smartass says "That's a configuration issue. You aren't going to get any of that here..." - when the smartass damn well knows the answer - which is simply to enable network discovery in each VM. Heck, they could even take a few minutes and show the OP how to configure static IP addresses on the VMs using just a few, very easily made images. Then show them how to ping each address. But nope. They deliberately give the OP a hard time pushing the notion that configuring a VM is not what this community is about. Really ? If that's true, then I am really retarded. I'm a complete and total idiot. I am really stupid for coming to this forum and expecting that I can get general configuration assistance. Gee, let me see, every other community forum I've been to, I can get such things there no problem. It is only at VMWare's community forums where there is a ton of attitude from the volunteers - who are supposed to be here to provide answers. Oh well, again I must be a retard. Because they are volunteers, if they get a bug up their ass I guess they feel entitled to picking-and-choosing what they will and will not answer plus give the OP grief if they feel like it.

The above is endemic to this entire forum with a lot of the "volunteers" here. And it's the reason that I hate coming here. This is the place of last resort.

I agree that it is shameful that a group of volunteers has to carry VMWare on their backs by providing the support that VMWare is both morally and ethically obligated to provide. It just adds even more animosity towards a company that is not very well regarded to begin with - at least not in any of my extended circles. VMWare is rated one step above CISCO. So that means it has a sub-basement level reputation.

We paid many thousands of Euros for a VMWare contract. We did our due diligence. We asked multiple times "Does this product do this ? Because it needs to do this. We expect it to do this." The reply given to those questions, not once, but twice was "yes." And, well, you already know the answer to what happened. In the end our bank back-charged VMWare and that is how we got it settled.

So when I was asking questions on the other thread and someone jumped-in and said "Well.. you guys should have figured out the product before you bought it.." That comment angered a lot of people. And it is very typical of the general smartass attitude that a lot of volunteers here have towards people that show up and complain. Guess, what... given the fact that VMWare screws over lots of people everyday, all those whiners and complainers have earned the right to do so.

[continuum]

>  They deliberately give the OP a hard time pushing the notion that configuring a VM is not what this community is about.

Wow - no wonder you are disapointed. And hope that nobody that speaks to me reports similar behaviour from my side.

Feel free to call me via skype next time - but I have to warn you: I am a specialist - I spend most of my time with recovery problems.

I also may not be able to help with WIn10 + WS 15 issues - simply because I have no computer that would run WS 15.

> The above is endemic to this entire forum with a lot of the "volunteers" here. And it's the reason that I hate coming here. This is the place of last resort.

I really hate to admit it - but I have to agree.

This used to be something like a living room for me in the early 2000 years.

When I realized that I had just told a user "be careful in VMTN - the amount of bad advice you will run into is a real issue" I was shocked.

I reported the problem in the mod forum and suggested to get rid of the rewardpoints system which attracts those folks in the first place.

But that was useless. According to some statistics VMware actually seems to  believe that the quality level of the answers is actually good these days  - never have been better ....

Got to leave now - I am trying to recover some vmdks for some guy in Venezuela at the moment ....

Ulli