DLL corruption during VMWare Tools install (msvcp71.dll)

[StJoes]

We recently upgraded our ESX server to vSphere 4.0. After bringing the vm's back online, and then upgrading the Tools, we had issues with several applications working. Troubleshooting seems to have revealed that during the Tools installation a new version of msvcp71.dll is used, and any existing version is (apparently) removed from the system32 directory. We found three copies of the dll in various directories under Windows\temp all in directories used during the VMWare Tools install.

By copying the file back into the system32 directory, the application (MS SQL was the main application with issues) now works correctly.

Brian

[rogerfinch]

thanks for the info.

I've vmtool'ed all our virtual servers now. we lost pcanywhere 11.5 on one, and oracle running on an sms 2003 box, but that was all.

the virtual hardware is interesting. 20 in the dmz were fine, but those in a dhcp environment started getting addresses while the nic was reinstalled and ip settings applied. the static was put back in, but by then dhcp has registered the new address in dns, wiping out the static entry!

only another 70 or so to do. manually.

oh, and wins disappears too

[chjones]

I have upgraded three of my ESX Clusters to version 4.0 and have found something interesting.

The first cluster I did, I put each host into maintenance mode manually and vmotion took care of moving the VMs. Then I used vSphere Update Manager to upgrade the host to 4.0, install the 3 released patches for ESXi 4.0, then exit maintenance mode and move onto the next host. I hadn't done anything to the VMs themselves other than allow vmotion to move them around as I upgraded each host. Those VMs that have the option "Check and upgrade tools before each power-on" all seemed to automatically upgrade VMware Tools on the guest when a vmotion performed that moved the VM onto a version 4 host. I would have thought this wouldn't happen, but only when you shut down the VM and power it back on? Anyway, every one of those VMs had the MSVCP71.DLL issue.

The VMs that didn't have the tools upgrade option enabled, manually had their VMware Tools upgraded. None of these VMs had the DLL issue.

On the second cluster I upgraded, I did it out of hours and shut down every VM in the cluster. I then upgraded the hosts to 4.0 and then powered back on the VMs. Each of the VMs automatically upgraded VMware Tools after Windows booted and then restarted. None of them had the DLL issue.

On the third cluster, I did a mix of the previous two. Some VMs I shut down and others I allowed vmotion to move them online. The VMs that were moved with vmotion automatically upgraded VMware Tools and all had the DLL issue.

I have two more clusters to upgrade and I don't like that I will have to shut down all the VMs if I want to avoid this issue

Chris

[Chuck8773]

I started a support ticket with this and thought I would share what I heard.

"At this point in time, we have narrowed down the problem you are experiencing to a known problem in ESX. Our core product development team is aware of this problem, and have a problem report open in order to have it resolved. The fix will be release in a ESX 3.5 update 5 and ESX 4.0 Update 1. The current workaround is to copy the missing file over to the C:\windows\system32\. For your convenience, we have an RSS feed available to alert you when new knowledge base articles are created. Besides the obvious benefits of keeping current on knowledge base articles (which include descriptions and resolutions to common problems), each product update has a knowledge base article written for its release. These articles describe the problem in depth, and the patch in which the fix is included. This is your best opportunity to track fixes. You may subscribe to the RSS feeds at the link below.

VMware RSS Feed:

http://vmware.simplefeed.net/subscription"

No estimate on when ESX 4 U1 will be released yet.

Charles Killmer, VCP

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[iemmadavis]

I also face alot of problems while doing so. But I searched for it on the web and  found websites like dll-me.com , pcpatchedup.com where i found detailed instructions how to solve these issues. The msvcp71.dll can also be downloaded from the same. 

Emma Davis 

[davisjohn2377]

You can solve this by downloading and installing msvcp71.dll files in your system directory