VMware Workstation 6, Vista, and HP Protect Tools

[brownmit]

<div>I recently purchased an HP 8710w workstation. After installing VMware workstation 6, the system continuously reboots. After much fiddling and troubleshooting, I have learned the source of the problem although not exactly a definitive solution.

The problem is between VMware workstation and HP Protect Tools (Security and single-sign-on). The factory build on the workstation uses 2.00J which is the latest version posted on the HP website. As long as ProtectTools is installed, when the Vmware Authorization Service is started, the LSASS service will crash:</div>bq.<div>Faulting application lsass.exe, version 6.0.6000.16386, time stamp 0x4549afbe, faulting module ItDAC.dll_unloaded, version 0.0.0.0, time stamp 0x45db332e, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x013ce794, process id 0x2e4, application start time 0x01c81a67f40c3639.</div>
<div>Followed by:</div>bq.<div>A critical system process, C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe, failed with status code 255. The machine must now be restarted.</div>
<div>If you leave the VMware services in automatic start mode (as the installer leaves them), this will happen before login completes which is why the continuous reboots happened.

To try and narrow things down, I've uninstalled all components except for the credential manager component, and it still crashes, even with both single-sign on and application protection features turned off. Only when I completely uninstall protect tools will VMware begin to run.

I've posted a similar thread in HP's support forums, but I fear this will be one of those finger-pointing situations where nobody actually looks at the problem. Hopefully someone at VMware will be able to take a look at the conflict and definitively determin if this is rooted in a VMware issue on Vista or if the core is really an HP Protect Tools problem.

I also know another customer who has a different model laptop and has the same problem - and the same workaround.

Any suggestions from the forum world would be greatly appreciated.</div>

[Rod_Hatley]

Setting the VMWare services to Manual clears up the issue of the reboots and the system can pretty much be used normally in my experience.

I am the IT Manager of an technology Consulting company and we exclusively use HP tablet/notebook systems and use VMWare Workstation and Player heavily. We have been seeing this issue since the spring of 2007. My IT staff is all running Vista on HP tc4200 or tc4400 units with the Credentials Manager using the VMWare Workstation v6. We noticed this issue and after some pain hit upon the trick of setting the VMWare services to manual seems to clear the issue up.

The rest of my company is using the VMWare Player 2 on Windows XP Tablet Edition using the same tc4200 and tc4400 hardware and did not have any problems until recently. The October release of updates from Microsoft now is causing the same problem on my Windows XP Tablet PC's with the VMWare Player 2 (with the new version of Credentials Manager). We know the fix, but it looks like MS is doing something here that is a factor too.

[hpaz]

I had exactly the same problem (with VMWare 5.5 and HP ProtectTools 3.0)

Downgrading the HP Protecttools and Credential manager to versions 2.0D (of both) solved it.

(Uninstall Credential Manager, reboot, unsintall ProtectTools, reboot, install ProtectTools 2.0D, Reboot, install Credential MAanger 2.0D, Reboot - Yes, I know a lot of reboots but I finally got to a stable system)

[brownmit]

I still think this issue needs a definitive "FIX" but I have determined a workaround. Using hints from people on the HP side of thing, I figured out the following. Why this works I have no idea but according to reports some issue occurs when VMware is installed using a domain account.

I uninstalled both VMware Workstation 6 and ProtectTools.

I disabled UAC

I reenabled the local administrator account in Vista and rebooted.

I logged in using the local administrator account and installed VMware Workstation 6. After installing, I set the services to manual and rebooted.

I logged in using the local administrator and installed ProtectTools 2.00J

I rebooted and log in now with my normal account.

As long as I keep UAC disabled, all is well. If I enable UAC, as soon as the VMware authentication service is enabled, the lsass service error occurs and the system reboots.

[brownmit]

Well, I guess I spoke too soon. Disabling UAC didn't solve the problem but it did delay it. Now the system crashes only after starting a VM. Sigh.

I actually gave up on vista - too many issues. I'm back to XP and had my system stable with ProtectTools 2.00J and Vmware Workstation 6.01 (although I had a few screwy issues during install). Then I installed 6.02 and its really broke. Who knows if this is ultimately VMware or HP, but I can guarantee it's a waste of time to try to get either one to look at it. IMO both will just immediately point the finger at each other.

[zaurb]

Hi!

Did you resolve the issue?

I've got the same problem on the same machine as yours: Compaq 8710w. Seems changing all services to run under "__vmware_user__

" account resolved the issue for me. Please, let me know how did you resolve the same issue?

[leon_combs]

I tired "__vmware_user__" and it did not work. I give up and I am just uninstalling HP crap. VMWARE is more important.

[kolarb]

HP nc8430, Windows XP and experiencing the same problems. I rely heavily on ProtectTools. What I've discovered as well is that if I turn off the network access for the notebook everything is OK (turn off the WIFI). Using hibernate is one way of getting around the problem (once you are able to get into the system).

[zaurb]

The issue I believe is resolved in the new version of vmware workstation. Didn't try yet with the server though. After installing a new version for several days so far I don't have any more errors lsass as previously. Hope this helps.

[brownmit]

No, there have been lots of workarounds. It seems that some workarounds work somewhat for some people but not for all, and certainly not most. I've been able to get things going once and a while but it is so disruptive I've been using the Microsoft virtual PC lately on my laptop. I don't think VMware gets it that this issue needs to be addressed by them; I work with customers who require two-factor authentication and are now requiring fingerprint access. On HP laptops that means ProtectTools and trust me when security says you do it, you do it. Thus, Vmware loses to Microsoft even though its a much better product overall. Oh well.

[sstange]

Thanks everyone for posting about this problem. I'm using a Compaq 6910p with windows XP SP2 and have received every error imaginable, including the LSASS.exe issue (mine puts me in an infinite reboot). As soon as I turn on any network communication (WiFi or Local LAN) i receive this error. Since I rely heavily on Workstation for my development environments, this was a HUGE issue. Without going out to buy another PC brand, I went ahead and uninstalled the HP ProtectTools and seem to be back up and running now. Unfortunately, disabling security and back-up features is not a good long-term fix.

I submitted a support ticket to VMWare. Will keep you posted.

[brownmit]

While I don't consider this solved by any stretch of the imagination, I have found what seems to be a reliable work-around. The hint came in a message I found about someone fixing this by disabling networking. However, the posts I have seen on this have not been sufficiently clear on the circumstances of the resolution.

The issue has to do with the vmware authentication service. Set this service to Manual in services.msc. Once your system is completely booted and logged in (you need to wait a while so all network related services are fully running), you need to create/run a script that disables every network adapter on your system, then starts the vmware authentication service, waits a few seconds, then starts the network adapters. Once the vmware authentication service is running properly, just hibernate instead of shutdown as much as you can and it will continue to work just fine. Repeat the process after every reboot.

I'm using a tool called togglenic to do the work for me:

Here's what my script looks like:

@echo off

TOGGLENIC LAN disable

TOGGLENIC Wireless disable

TOGGLENIC vmnet1 disable

TOGGLENIC vmnet8 disable

net start vmauthdservice

sleep 5

TOGGLENIC LAN enable

TOGGLENIC Wireless enable

TOGGLENIC vmnet1 enable

TOGGLENIC vmnet8 enable

I hope this helps - and I hope even more that this won't give someone at VMware an excuse to not bother really fixing this problem

Regards,

Mitch

[desaille]

IIH

Running Vista, Workstation 6.0.3 and HP Protect Tools 2.5 and stable.

But have co-worker who is going thru this same issue.

[brownmit]

Where did you find protecttools 2.5? The lastest I see on the HP site is 2.10A

Also, I'm trying this on vista again and still having the problem, so now I have to figure out the above workaround on vista.

[ed0g]

I have a Compaq 8510p running Vista (no SP1) that is having similar problem. When booting, systems gets the lsass error and reboots. It is hit and miss, and usually will reboot only once. It appears I am using the 3.00AA ProtectTools (Security Manager) and VMware Workstation 6.0.3 build 80004. One difference I am having is that this problem didn't occur until I loaded 4gb of RAM into my machine. I dropped it to 3gb, same result, then back to the original 2gb. At that point it looked like it was stable...until I rebooted. So, I went back to 4gb and disabled the VMware Authorization Service and now can reboot at will with no problem. Don't know if the RAM was a trigger, or coincidence, but wanted to add my 2 cents.

**UPDATE**

So far all of the posts I have read in regards to this have not offered suggestions on how to get VMware to run. I fiddled today and found that if you stop the Local Communication Channel service, then start the VMware Authorization Service then you can run Workstation with no problems. Flip the switch the other way and you have Credential Manager back. Obvioulsy a simple batch script could be written that could perform the 2 service changes and then call the VMware binary...time to get to work on that

[sstange]

Uninstalling the HP Protect Tools helped me with the lsass.exe issue. I was having intermitent problems too. Mostly related to connecting via LAN. I haven't had any issues after uninstalling the tools (I was never really using the services in the 1st place). My PC actually performs a LOT better after uninstalling the app, so good riddance Protect Tools.

After fixing it, I gave up on the support calls to VMWare and HP. I got my dev environment back and that's all I cared about. Hope this helps,

[mikenprd]

All you have to do is:

Install vmware then restart into safe mode. Go to control panel -&gt;

administrative tools-&gt; services-&gt; change VMware Authorization

Service from AutoStart to Delayed Start.

then restart and it should work. I'm runnig this workaround on an HP 8530W with ProtectTools V4H6..

[junyoure]

Totally worked on Win7 Ult x64, VMWare 7, HP Prot Tools 4.10.10.0003

thanks for the simple fix, since HP and/or VMWare hasn't provided guidance on this.

-jr

[duhaas]

I can also confirm that fix worked on a 2530p hp elitebook. windows 7 business x64 and vmware workstation 7

[Perceptum]

This fix works on the following:

HP 6910P

Vista Business (32 bit) SP 2

HP ProtectTools Secutiry Manager 4.10.10.0003 (HP recently update ProtectTools Secutiry Manager for this notebook and others)

Please note, the first time I ran Security Manager, it took about 1-2 minutes before the splash screen went away and the manager opened.