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kangarko
Contributor
Contributor

VMWare Tools fails to install on Czech Windows 2000 & XP

Recently I've been reviving two installations, Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows XP SP3 (both czech versions), when I found out I am unable to install the latest VMWare tools.

Both systems were running the tools perfectly fine on older version of VMWare (probably 7 or 😎 but updating to the latest tools on VMWare Workstation 12.1 failed. When the installation is almost done, the program starts to "roll back actions" and then says that the installation ended up prematurely. Same on 2000 and XP, but on Win2k there is an additional error regarding Think printer driver (but when I click continue on it, the installation continues "fine").

I have tried to reinstall Win2k multiple times, but I am always ending up in the same problem (I tried to install both before and after applying all updates), except for the English localization where the tools installed properly. Now I don't really understand why this don't work on Czech locale but works fine on the English one, since it has always been working on Czech too for many years.

Interestingly, the last versions that I found installable is 8.6.16-3054402 and 8.4.6 build385536 (quite an old old).

I've come across this KB article that appear to describe my problem, but according to it, it should have been fixed long time ago:

VMware KB:    VMware Tools installation in non-US-English 32-bit Windows rolls back and fails with M...

This is the log I found in the temp folder on Windows 2000 after trying to upgrade from the version named above:
http://pastebin.com/riWPa54G

Also, it is extremely disappointing that a product of such quality lacks 3D acceleration on Windows 95 and Windows 98 systems.

The bug is present on latest release: 12.1.1

Any help would be greatly appreciated.:)
Thanks.

  

15 Replies
kangarko
Contributor
Contributor

Any help please?

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kangarko
Contributor
Contributor

bump

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RuThaN
Contributor
Contributor

Hello,

i have same problem with Win XP SP3 32 bit czech.

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komanek
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I have been experiencing the same problem after ESXi upgraded to 5.5u3b and tried to update vmware tools to version 10. Now I am stuck with the tools in the following way:

- Installation of the newest tools ends up prematurely (rollback)

- Installation of the older 9.x tools goes fine until reboot. After the reboot vmware ISO with 10.x version is mounted automatically and the tools are removed

5.5u3b is crappy. It took me two weeks to resolve all upgrade issues in the vCenter and now I have even more problems with ESXi+vmtools

In this situation I am not willing to update vmtools on my productions W2k8 servers.

komanek
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Uninstallation after reboot was caused by an option in the VM setting, causing automatic vmware tools upgrades. Upgrade was not successful and the rollback resulted in wmare tools uninstall, although the installer in manual mode states there were no changes made to the system - but it means no further changes after the older version uninstall .... OMG 🙂

It means, it is possible to install and use an older version of vmtools.

The impossibility of vmtools to be upgraded to the current version might be related to KB 2114476. The solution for newer Windows versions should be temporarily use of the "everyone" user group. Maybe. But it is not relevant to Windows XP, where it is a special group which can't hold regular users as members. As far as Windows XP are still supported by vmware tools, I wonder if there will be some patch later in time.

I am still reluctant to try the vmware upgrade on my production windows servers.

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kangarko
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for sharing your experience. I had the same issue as the previous version of VMware tools was already installed on the machine, but for some reason the older version has installed itself properly.

I see that I can simply stay on old versions, but since they got a limited support for 3d acceleration, desktop sharing (and some other features), I would appreciate if this is fixed.

Windows XP is no longer officially supported by Microsoft (private companies can pay for updates, thought), but as long as those versions of Windows are listed when I create a new virtual machine, I think they should definitely fix it.

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kangarko
Contributor
Contributor

bump? is any work done on fixing that issue yet?

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RuThaN
Contributor
Contributor

I think that you should Fill some bug report form..

It seems that development is now i bit slow, last update of 12.1 is from December.

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kangarko
Contributor
Contributor

Can you please navigate me to some bug report form? I seem to have overseen it.

Bug still occurs as of the new release 12.1.1, sadly.

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Hugomor
Contributor
Contributor

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jirijanata
Contributor
Contributor

I found solution for your problem.

  1. Problem description
    • VMware Tools installer is creating some certificate files (cert.pem and key.pem) in folder C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Data Aplikací\VMware\VMware Tools\GuestProxyData\server
    • This files are created with program guestproxycerttool.exe, which is located in folder C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools. This program needs to be runned from command prompt with parameter -g.
    • There are two problems connected to this certificate creation.
      • At first is VMware Tools installer unable to create file guestproxy-ssl.conf, which is located in folder C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Data Aplikací\VMware\VMware Tools and then is guestproxycerttool.exe unable to create cert,pem and key.pem files).
      • But there is another problem, if is guestproxy-ssl.conf presented in folder C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Data Aplikací\VMware\VMware Tools, then the guestproxycerttool.exe is able to create files cert.pem and key.pem in folder C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Data Aplikací\VMware\VMware Tools\GuestProxyData\server, but these files are 0 KB big (normal size is ~2 KB).
  2. Solution
    • Change path C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Data Aplikací to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data
    • The solution is quite easy. Program guestproxycerttool.exe have problems with diacritic in path. Variable for C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Data Aplikací is located in Windows Registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Common AppData. Default value on Windows XP Czech is %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Data aplikací. So we will change this value to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data and we will create folder Application Data in path C:\Documents and Settings\All Users and we will restart PC to apply those changes.
    • It's also possible to create link C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data with program junction from sysinternals (Windows XP doesn't have inbuilt command mklink).
    • I tried also other folder name C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\App and it worked. So it's definitely problem with diacritic.
    • There is examble script. This script will make all changes, which are needed, but in registry will change %ALLUSERSPROFILE% to variable C:\Documents and Settings\All Users, but it just works.
      • junction "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data" "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Data Aplikací"

      • reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders" /v "Common AppData" /t REG_EXPAND_SZ /d "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data" /f

  3. How I found solution?
    • I installed Windows XP Professional x86 SP3 Czech and Windows XP Professional x86 SP3 English.
    • Then I installed in both Windows VMware Tools 10.0.6, which are included in VMware Workstation 12.1.1 and VMware Workstation Player 12.1.1 installation package.
    • Then VMware tools installed fine on English Windows and failed on Czech Windows installation.
    • I compared logs, which are located in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\Logs and found problem with guestproxycerttool.exe


Tested and it worked with VMware Tools 10.0.5 and 10.0.6 (VMware Workstation 12.1.0 and 12.1.1).


jiripridal
Contributor
Contributor

Same problem in Windows Server 2003 Czech with VMware Tools 10.0.9. Same solution (junction+reg add) helped me.

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UDA_CZ
Contributor
Contributor

The same problem. 11 this done Smiley Sad


https://youtu.be/5kL-iabgWfQ


.

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rimba1
Contributor
Contributor

For fix use r.exe | Ulož.to password for download : vmtools

It is console program written in delphi to solve this pity error. Is upx compressed. Can be used in batches. After executing immediatelly restarts VM.

Hugomor
Contributor
Contributor

Could pleas someone test, with steam client is working on Czech Windows XP SP3 and VM 12 / 12.5? I migrated multiple SP3 machines, but im not able to pass logon window.

  Im stuck at infinite login, without any error message, i have installed clean WinXP 32bit english version and its working.

Update: Clean Win XP SP3 without updates and Vmware tools, Steam is working, know i will test it with tools..

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