Problem with guest system Win 10 32 Bit

[TSL02]

Dear Community,

I am really getting desperate. For some time now, I have had the problem that guest systems with Windows 10, 32 bit (and only 32 bit!) crash when running Windows updates. I think there must be a solution for this.

First, the problem occurred in the following constellation:
Host system: Win 10 Enterprise, version 21H2, 64 Bit
Guest system: Win 10 Pro, version 21H2, 32 Bit
VMware Workstation Player 16.2.4

Everything worked fine until the September patchday 2022. With the October patches, the problem appeared for the first time and has been present ever since. The problem is always triggered by the cumulative update and manifests itself as follows. All updates are downloaded and installed. The subsequent reboot runs normally until the progress is up to 30 %, then the actual reboot of the virtual PC takes place. The light blue Windows 10 logo appears briefly and is followed by a BSOD ("SYSTEM THREAD EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED"), then a second reboot again with the same BSOD. Afterwards an automatic repair starts and the updates are undone. After that the VM starts again normally, but just with patch status September 2022. I have also already downloaded the current cumulative update from Microsoft's update catalog and installed "by hand", with the same result. And also the current VMware tools do not change anything.

I have now been able to reproduce this on 4 different computers in different constellations.

Tested host systems:
Win 10 Enterprise, Version 21H2, 64 Bit
Win 10 Enterprise, Version 22H2, 64 Bit
Win 10 Pro, version 21H2, 64 bit
Win 10 Pro, version 22H2, 64 bit

Tested guest systems:
Win 10 Pro, version 21H2, 32 bit
Win 10 Pro, version 22H2, 32 bit
Win 10 Enterprise Evaluation, version 22H2, 32 bit

Tested Vmware Workstation versions:
Player 16.2.4
Player 16.2.5
Player 17.0.0
Player 17.0.1
Pro 17.0.1 (30-day trial)

I just tried again a few days ago. Created a new VM with the current Workstation Pro 17.0.1, installed Win 10 Enterprise Evaluation, version 22H2, 32 bit in it with the ISO currently available from Microsoft (the ISO has the September 2022 patch level), with no other software installations or settings changes. Afterwards just run Windows Update and the reboot ends with BSOD again.

By the way, I don't have this problem with a 64-bit Windows as a guest system. I also can't imagine that I'm the only one who has this problem. Tips I've read about this so far (including this forum) haven't worked. Some say that the problem was solved with version 16.2.5 or 17.0.0. Others say that reducing the number of CPU cores for the VM to 1 helped. For me this does not change anything.

Does anyone have an idea or solution?

[Neutron209]

I've got the same problem, but (sorry) no solution. I would thank for a great idea.

[PeterVM100]

I have the exact same experience. I have also been wrestling with this since last year, Sep/2022 sounds about right.

I have been experimenting with Win 10 Pro 32/64 hosts and installing Win 10 Pro/32 as guest. Experiments all start with clean installs (host & guest), no configurations of any kind, no programs, nothing. The guest reboot (after updates) goes through the exact same convulsions as you described. I then tried an all new installation, paused the updates immediately and updated manually. The results are definitive it is KB5023696 that is causing BSOD.

I see that KB5023696 goes all the way back to Win 10 20H2. I didn't do any investigating back then but dimes to doughnuts this is the culprit. MS did something in KB5023696 way back then and VMware has not addressed it.

The iso's I use are all downloaded via M$ website, created with M$ media tool thing.

Look at my post of Apr 06, 2023 "BSOD Windows 10 KB5023696 - SYSTEM THREAD EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED" for more details. Perhaps you can see someting.

[TSL02 · Accepted solution]

In the German VMware forum (vmware-forum.de) I got the following workaround which solved the problem for me.

Change the type of the hard disk from NVMe to SCSI. So the NVMe driver seems to cause the problem.

Step-by-step:

1. Power down the VM.
2. Backup the VM.
3. Edit VM settings.
4. Remove the hard disk (the VMDK-File is not deleted!).
5. Add a new hard disk. Choose "SCSI" as disk type and "Use an existing virtual disk". Select the "old" VMDK file and click "Finish".
6. Power on the VM. It will run into a BSOD (INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE) two times and then the automic repair starts.
7. (I only have German Win10, so maybe my English translations of the following options do not have the same wording as used by Microsoft.) After some time you can choose between "Restart" and "Enhanced options". Select "Enhanced options", then "Trouble shooting" and again "Enhanecd options", then "Start-up aid" (the first selection option in the upper left corner). Again after some time it says that it can't repair your PC. But, if you choose "Shut down" and power on the VM again, it will start normally.
8. After that I could install all Windows updates without any problems.

[tcrane8080]

I am having a similar issue with a Windows 10 32 bit Guest OS. I have performed an place upgrade from a Working Windows 7 32 bit Guest to Windows 10 32 bit. After the Upgrade, VMware Tools was not installed. I tried to manually install several different versions on VMware Tools but I would get a failure to install. Has anyone else ran into an issue installing VMware Tools on Windows 10 32bit Guest? 

[tcrane8080]

I have this same issue! Still looking for a solution. PC was upgraded from a Windows 7 32 OS. I had VMware support look at it and they were not able to find a resolve either. Any assistance on this would be appreciated.

[PeterVM100]

Have you tried TSL02's solution? It works

You can also get more background on a thread I started:

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Player/BSOD-Windows-10-KB5023696-SYSTEM-THREAD-...

If your ticket to Vm support is still open could you kindly pass along that they have a problem with their nvme driver? On behalf of all of us that have suffered through this, thank you.