Failed VMWare 9.0.1 to 9.0.2 upgrade. Cannot install Vmware 9.0.1 or 9.0.2

[Thornhale]

I recently attempted to upgrade VmWare 9.0.1 Workstation to 9.0.2. I made the mistake of not first turning off Comodo Antivirus. Comodo falsely identified the upgrade to be a worm. Shortly afterwards the upgrade processs failed.

I have not been abe to install VMWare 9.0.1 or VMWare 9.0.2 since and need help to get this program running again on my system.

I am only posting this after having followed the following steps:

1.) Initial problem: VMWare thought that it is still installed and refused to install.

I tried uninstalling VMWare but that did not work either.

I tried steps outlined in "Cleaning up after an incomplete uninstallation on a Windows host (1308)"

Link: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1308)

Following these steps led to successful removal of VMWare 9.0 Workstation. This led me to problem #2 because...

2.) I can still not install VMWare 9.0.1 or VMWare 9.0.2. The installer fails with the following error message:

Steps I have tried thus far:

- All the steps outlined in "Troubleshooting an MSI error during a VMware product or Tools installation (1031302)"

Link: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&e...

- I have tried the VMWare uninstaller in step 1 without change in outcome.

- I have tried to install VMWare after a fresh start (always with Antivirus off etc.) from a freshly created admin account getting the exact same message as above.

- I have tried to download Windows Installer 4.5 (there is no 5.0 WI). The installer refuses to install because WI 5.0 is already installed.

- To see if WI 5.0 works, I have tried to install and uninstall other Programs (ActivePerl, Mumble and Epson Drivers) in order to determine whether other programs also fail to install/uninstall. Those programs install/uninstall without any programs.

- I have tried to install VMWare 9.0.2 from a fresh admin account after clearing out temp folders and restarting.

At this point, I don't know what to do. I really need VMWare Workstation to work on my laptop and would like it to since I paid for it out of my own pocket. Is there anyone who can help? What is wrong with this installer?

[mfelker]

I'm not sure if its a problem with my vision or your screen capture program or my graphics driver but the error message (and the file lmanager window) is too blurry to read) .  Is there someway around this (short of my gettinig a new prescription).  I can make guesses about this but would rather not shoot at a target I can't see clearly

Thanks

[continuum]

You use a username that may be to complicated - sorry no joke .
If necessary create an admin account that only use a-z and A-Z without any special characters.

After uninstall check
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\VMware, Inc.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.

If the permissions for that key do not allow admin and system user full access the install probably fails.

Check the serviceHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\vmci in registry - do not install if you have this key already.

Here I had to uninstall ViClient and ,Converter to get WS 9 installed or updated
Uninstalls best work after a fresh boot ..

[mfelker]

Perhaps his company has a policy regarding usernames and he has no choice!.  I know you like registry tweaks Ulli but I think tha may be above above many users pay scale.  I don't understand how, if an admin or "super-user" has access to the registry they might not have acesss to invidual keys.  Try using a third-party registry editor rather than regesit?

[rcorkum]

I have the exact same error on installing 9.0.2

win 7 64 bit

no other installation /uninstall issues what so ever sfc checks 100% cleaned and I followed lal the troubleshooting steps the poster did above.

my username is Robert in windows and somehow I doubt thats outside the policy requirements for VMWARE and yes I am the admin.

I've so far tried to install 7 times, cleaned out temp files, and so on, can install other software no issues and remove no issues, pc has been rebooted.

[Thornhale]

Thank you for responding everyone!

I am happy to report that I have been able to resolve my problem without the need to refresh/reinstall Windows 8! I am posting this here in hopes that other people with similar problems can find a solution.

I got a helpful hint from the following thread:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/330015?tstart=30

The Problem:

Comodo Internet Security. There is a reason VMWare folks advise that the anti-virus software be turned-off.

What happened:

After the initial installer problem with Comodo, I made it a point to always turn the anti-virus program off. But I failed to realize that Comodo also has a helper service running in the background (Comodo has a firewall, anti-virus and "defense" component that looks for certain behaviors of activated files and prevents those from executing if it thinks it is a worm/malware etc.) that does not get turned off and cannot be turned off even if the internet defense suit itself has been turned off unless one disables the service and restarts the computer.

I tried restarting into safe-mode and perform the installation from there to avoid unneccessary services from starting (like Comodo). That failed because some Win 8 services needed for the install were not active.

The solution:

Restarting the computer with the helper service disabled AND anti-virus software off allowed the installation process to complete successfully. The internet security suit can be turned on again after the installation without causing any issues.

Note: The steps outlined in my initial post still have to be performed to clean up after a messy uninstall process.

[mfelker]

Did you try a fresh install  of VMware 9.0.2 or was this also an upgrade from 9.0.1? .  How did you try the upgrade?.  Do not try to upgrade from within the 9.0.1  program (many but not all the time this leads  to trouble).  Instead download the 9.0.2 exe, checksum the binary, and  make a screenshot of where the install fails.  The 9.0.2 installer should uninstall 9.0.1 - was this your situtaion?  Also there is an install log somewhere in Windows  (somebody can post the location) but I have only lneeded to refeer  to it in Linux.

[rcorkum]

I did try a fresh install and a fresh download twice.

it turned out to be the same thing comodo was blocking it without warnings.

which is odd.

its fixed.

thanks,

Robert

[Thornhale]

Originally, I was trying to upgrade from within VMWare. Once the install process failed though it did not matter whether I was doing it from within VMWare or whether I was using the VMWare 9.0.2 installer until I performed the steps outlined above.

I am now on VMWare 9.0.2 by the way.