Upgrade Windows 10 VMs to 1809 causes blue screen after login

[Shambiesails]

I have static Windows 10 VMs running on ESXi 6.0.0 upd3. They are permanent vms shared out to zero clients via Horizon View 7.3.1.

They were updated to version 1803 last year with no problem. I waited (I thought) a reasonable amount of time to upgrade them to version 1809. These computers are on an isolated network, so I have to export WSUS server files between online and offline servers, so they cannot access the internet or Windows Update. If I need a driver, I have to burn a CD.

After update, the VMs blue screen after login, 0x00000244, which points to drivers, then they shut themselves down.  Since it lets you log in and THEN blue screens, I suspected a driver(s) issue. Long story short, the display driver had to be changed to the generic Microsoft driver, and I had to disable the network adapter (E1000) to get the vm to stay alive after login.  I updated the VMware tools to the latest version (10.3.5) to see if that would fix the problem.  It didn't.  In fact, VMware tech told me that that version of tools is suspect (thanks, I guess). So I have uninstalled the view agent and VMware tools, disabled the network, then I was able to reinstall the original version of VMware tools and get the SVGA 3D driver to work okay (also made sure 3D was disabled). But as soon as I enable the network, the vm blue screens. I haven't reinstalled the view agent yet, because what's the point?

Am I the only one seeing issues with VMware drivers after upgrading to 1809? Does anyone know what version of VMware tools might give me working vms with network?

[sjesse]

10.3 vmware tools isn't supported with horizon view 7.3.1. I didn't realize at first and ran into problems, We keep an interoperability matrix which I added this to now to check during upgrades.

[sjesse]

Its the same thing with windows versions and horizon, 1809 needs Horizon 7.6.

VMware Knowledge Base

[Shambiesails]

Wow, VMware tech support is telling me that it's just a Windows driver issue and it's totally my problem.  I'm going to  try what you suggest here and get back to you.  I really appreciate this!

[Shambiesails]

So updating the tools and view drivers did not solve my problem.  The VM only works when the network adapter is not connected, so that's useless to me.  I reverted them back to 1803. Looking on Microsoft's web page, I see that there is a January release of the 1809 upgrade (mine is from November) that has some bug fixes that might be applicable.  I'm going to have to bring that into my online wsus server then export the database to my offline wsus server.  Gonna take me a week to get it to where I can test it again, but so far 1809 is a fail. Don't know whether to point the finger at VMware or Microsoft.

I MIGHT try switching to the vmxnet3 interface and see if THAT upgrades more smoothly next week.

[sjesse]

Yeah, I'd remove the nic from the vm, then add a new vmxnet 3 one and try again.

[Shambiesails]

So I removed the e1000 adapter and added a vmxnet3.  Upgrade went smoothly, and I logged in, and BLUE SCREEN.  I ran out of time to confirm that it's the nic still, but I'll confirm today.  I'm using the newest VMware tools and the 7.6 view agent for drivers, so this SHOULD work, but it's not. Am I really the only one seeing this? Or am I the only one stupid enough to upgrade to 1809?

[sjesse]

I'd fall back to support then, and may Microsoft support too, at the very least get support to tell you what driver they think is causing it. Then remove that and try the upgrade again.

[Shambiesails]

I can confirm with 100% assurance that it's the View Agent that's causing the issue.  I can login just fine with tools 10.3.5, but as soon as I install View agent, the problem is baaaack! I'm currently using 7.6.0, which is supposed to be supported.  Downloading the agent for 7.7.0 next.  I don't know where I go after that.  Support has been unhelpful so far.

[sjesse]

DO you have any drivers installed out side of the standard ones from vmware? If not I'd request to escalate the case