Can't upgrade to ver 14, can't uninstall ver 12 - Install crashes on "VMware Authorization Service" could not be deleted

[Neumeon]

Dell Laptop, Win7 Pro x64, VMWare Workstation Pro ver 12

I've read through several posts of similar issues with Workstation where users can't uninstall or upgrade due to a similar message - "Service 'VMware Authorization Service' (VMAuthdService) could not be deleted. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to remove system services".

I have admin rights on my system, I've run the install and uninstall programs as admin, I've tried using sc delete service which fails, I've run services.msc as admin to try and start or stop the services and it fails. The only thing I haven't tried is wiping my disk and reinstalling a new OS image. Honestly, this problem occurs with enough frequency that the folks at VMWare need to address this issue.

Has anyone found a real solution to work around this issue/bug? I'm a new VMWare user so I'd appreciate any help.

Thanks

[RDPetruska]

Have never personally run into any install/uninstall issue.  However, search the knowledgebase for the VMware Cleaner utility.

[yanw]

Would you please try following workaround? Please let me know if you still have any issues. thanks

Step1: Cancel Workstation installation or uninstall Workstation

Step2: Delete all files under %TEMP% directory

Step3: Open "cmd" as administrator, and execute "sc stop vmx86 & sc delete vmx86"

Step4: Delete files "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\vmx86.sys" if has

Step5: Goto c:\windows\system32\drvstore, delete folder which prefix by "vmx86", general the folder name should be vmx86_{guid}

Step6: Reboot host and then install Workstation 14 again

[halloween]

Any further updates on this issue, have been experiencing the same issue when trying to update WS 14.1 to 14.5. First it wouldn't allow me to stop the VMwareAuthdService, but I switched it to Manual and rebooted the system, so now it's reporting I can't delete the service.

I have admin rights

I have tried deleting from Admin CMD prompt

[eSatie]

I have exactly the same problem:

I cannot upgrade to 14.5. First a temporary file could not be created that was needed for installation,

and after adding the installer to MS defender, i get the error about this VM Authorization Service that cannot be installed.

I really need a solution for this problem!