I'm getting the next error in the installation log file when attempting to install VMWare Workstation (v15.0.0 and v15.0.2):
CustomAction VM_CopySupportFiles returned actual error code 1603 (note this may not be 100% accurate if translation happened inside sandbox)
My host machine is a AMD Ryzen 7 1700X with ASUS x370 motherboard. I installed VMWare Workstation in this machine before, without any problem.
I think the best way to explain the problem I have is to put you in a situation:
1. Time ago I've installed VMWare Workstation v15.0.0 in my host O.S.
2. In workstation I created a virtual machine with Windows 10 x64.
3. I personalized the virtualized O.S, installing software applications and those things, you know. I also installed VMWare Tools on that machine to be able share some folders from my host O.S.
4. When I finished personalization, I've attempted to uninstall VMWare tools but it was unable to uninstall itself. I did not give much importance, so I did not read the log file.
5. Then I used DISM to create a WIM image of the virtualized O.S. DISM is used to create a Windows installation image (Install.wim file).
6. I've installed Windows in my host machine using the generated WIM image.
7. Finally, I attempted to install VMWare Workstation (firstly the v15.0.0, then v15.0.2) and I get the mentioned error.
The first thing I thought is that the error code 1603 could be related to VMWare Tools, which, as I explained, I attempted to uninstall it from the virtual machine before capturing the Install.wim image of the virtualized O.S, and now I notice that I had some remaining things of VMWare Tools, like drivers, etc, but please continue reading...
I used registry tools to find and delete all related keys of VMware. There is NONE key or registry data remaining in my host OS that contains the word "vmware".
I also used other tools like CCLeaner, and AutoRuns to remove some remaining VMWare drivers in my host OS. I also deleted all the files related to VMWare, all those that were installed by VMWare Tools, and all the drivers (vmci,sys, vsock.sys, etc), better said, I developed a simple script to find all the files that contains the word "vmware" in their file description metadata (In total I've found around 67 .dll/.sys files of VMWare), and I deleted them all from my host O.S.
So now I think there is nothing left related to VMWare Tools in the Windows registry and in the file-system of my host O.S, however, I'm still getting the error code 1603 when I try to install VMWare Workstation. I also used the "/c" argumentt of the Worksation setup executable to try remove all the possible garbage remaining, it found anything. For that reason I think that maybe the issue has nothing to do with the files that were remaining from the VMWare Tools installation...
The error also couldn't be related to user permissions, since I'm using the ("hidden") built-in Administrator account. Anyway to discard it without any doubt, I ensured to take ownership and give full access to all the directories and files of the O.S hard-drive.
I've attached the log file of VMWare Workstation installation try.
I need help. Thanks for read.
