VMWare Workstation 8 Crashes on Launch

[hopkinsprog]

I've just recently installed Workstation 8 and everytime I launch it, I see the main window and then it crashes.  Below is some information from the Windows Event log.

====================================================================================================

Faulting application name: vmware.exe, version: 8.0.0.18997, time stamp: 0x4e52ed28
Faulting module name: MSVCR80.dll, version: 8.0.50727.4927, time stamp: 0x4a2752ff
Exception code: 0xc000000d
Fault offset: 0x00045616
Faulting process id: 0x1df8
Faulting application start time: 0x01cc756caf9bc380
Faulting application path: D:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmware.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.4927_none_d08a205e442db5b5\MSVCR80.dll
Report Id: ef8b25ac-e15f-11e0-ab66-90e6baa27ba2

====================================================================================================

The program continues to crash like this despite having been reinstalled.  I've also run the latest Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86) to try and fix any issues with the DLL in question, but it hasn't helped.  I am running Windows 7 Ultimate x64, with an Intel Core i7 920 with hardware virtualization enabled.

I've tried running it through WinDbg, but eventually get down to "no runnable debuggees".

Do you have any thoughts on how I can resolve this?  Thank you!

[VisionNetworkin]

Here's the debug output for this issue.  Also, a dump was collected and has been attached (vmware.zipx).

Event ID 1000 - Application Error

Faulting application name: vmware.exe, version: 8.0.0.18997, time stamp: 0x4e52ed28

Faulting module name: MSVCR80.dll, version: 8.0.50727.6195, time stamp: 0x4dcddbf3

Exception code: 0xc000000d

Fault offset: 0x00045616

Faulting process id: 0x1468

Faulting application start time: 0x01cc796eb78c235b

Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmware.exe

Faulting module path: C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.6195_none_d09154e044272b9a\MSVCR80.dll

Report Id: f69463c5-e561-11e0-bd03-005056c00008

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: BEX

Application Name: vmware.exe

Application Version: 8.0.0.18997

Application Timestamp: 4e52ed28

Fault Module Name: MSVCR80.dll

Fault Module Version: 8.0.50727.6195

Fault Module Timestamp: 4dcddbf3

Exception Offset: 00045616

Exception Code: c000000d

Exception Data: 00000000

OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.4

Locale ID: 1033

Additional Information 1: e926

Additional Information 2: e9263950142051511ceadcb55c0aa80c

Additional Information 3: 05f6

Additional Information 4: 05f6b403f0ce5fa5f9e3566c04fc17c4

73C5BD85 pop ebx

73C5BD86 call 73C59A71

73C5BD8B add ebp,2B8h

73C5BD91 leave

73C5BD92 ret

73C5BD93 and dword ptr ds:[73CE4920h],0 <-- Error occurred here

73C5BD9A ret

73C5BD9B int 3

73C5BD9C int 3

73C5BD9D int 3

... which points to...

73CE4917 add byte ptr [eax],al

73CE4919 add byte ptr [eax],al

73CE491B add byte ptr [eax],al

73CE491D add byte ptr [eax],al

73CE491F db 00h

73CE4920 add byte ptr [eax],al <-- Referenced memory

73CE4922 add byte ptr [eax],al

73CE4924 add byte ptr [eax],al

73CE4926 add byte ptr [eax],al

73CE4928 add byte ptr [eax],al

73CE492A add byte ptr [eax],al

73CE492C pop eax

[VisionNetworkin]

Some additional details as I continue troubleshooting

Found the following items by running a Process Monitor on vmware.exe

6:38:46     %temp%\vmware-aaron.page\vmware-ui-aaron.page-6320.log     WRITE      [SUCCESS]

This file has ben reviewed and contains the following items of interest (attached one from the computer with the issue - file name 6320, and also attached one from a computer running just the eval that did not exhibit the issue, file name 6276):

2011-09-22T18:38:44.807-05:00| vmui| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "C:\Users\aaron.page.TX\AppData\Roaming\VMware\config.ini": The system cannot find the file specified.

2011-09-22T18:38:44.817-05:00| vmui| I120: Token elevation type = Limited: The process has a linked token. This is an admin account and UAC is turned on.

2011-09-22T18:38:45.302-05:00| vmui| I120: HostDeviceInfo: Failed to enumerate host parallel ports via the registry. Could not open device map parallel port registry key.
2011-09-22T18:38:45.302-05:00| vmui| I120: HostDeviceInfoGetDiskInfo: CreateFile \\.\PhysicalDrive0 failed: Access is denied
2011-09-22T18:38:45.302-05:00| vmui| I120: HostDeviceInfoGetDiskInfo: CreateFile \\.\PhysicalDrive1 failed: Access is denied

Additionally, the following line is the last line in the log file, presumably because the program crashed:

2011-09-22T18:38:46.714-05:00| vmui| I120: CDS: Using HTTP proxy 10.184.3.254:8080 for https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/vmw-desktop/ws/7.1.3/324285/windows/packages/metadata.xml.gz.

Also seeing alot of cdstmp_[processID]_#.gz files being created.

And lots of localhost traffic that looks like the following:

6:38:46 NSC-TX-WKS1:3791 -> NSC-TX-WKS1:https TCP-RCV     [SUCCESS]

6:38:46 NSC-TX-WKS1:3791 -> NSC-TX-WKS1:https TCP-RCV     [SUCCESS]

6:38:46 NSC-TX-WKS1:3791 -> NSC-TX-WKS1:https TCP-CPY     [SUCCESS]

And some internet traffic.  Maybe an update check?

6:38:46 NSC-TX-WKS1:3793 -> TXSA5830COCOM3:8080 TCP-SND [SUCCESS]

6:38:46 NSC-TX-WKS1:3793 -> TXSA5830COCOM3:8080 TCP-CPY [SUCCESS]

6:38:46 NSC-TX-WKS1:3793 -> TXSA5830COCOM3:8080 TCP-RCV [SUCCESS]

And some file system requests that failed:

6:38:45 B:\Program Files\32-bit\VMware\VMware Workstation INVALID DEVICE REQUEST [Control: FSCTL_LMR_QUERY_DEBUG_INFO]

[admin]

Does editing %APPDATA%\VMware\preferences.ini and adding the lines:

pref.autoSoftwareUpdatePermission = "deny"
pref.componentDownloadPermission = "deny"

help?  (If pref.autoSoftwareUpdatePermission or  pref.componentDownloadPermission are already present, replace the  existing entries.)

[VisionNetworkin]

Yes, this corrected it.  Thank you. 

[hopkinsprog]

Jameslin,

This seems to have worked for me.  I already had the entries in my ini file:

pref.autoSoftwareUpdatePermission = "deny"
pref.componentDownloadPermission = "ask"

Changing the latter to "deny", instead of "ask" seems to stabilized things for me.  Thanks!

[Felix-The-Cat]

Hello  hopkinsprog and VisionNetwork…,

Guys, we need your help...

We have a suspicious rootcause of this problem in faulty “libcds.dll”.

Could you please attach this “libcds.dll” here?

****************

Cheers

[abeasley]

I am experiencing the same problem.  When I add the settings to the preferences file I am able to boot but I am not able to update through the updates screen under preferences.  If I enable either the application ends as before.

Attached is my libcds.dll.