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beneddt
Contributor
Contributor

Windows 2008 x64 VMware Tools upgrade fails on ESX 4

We have 2 new ESX 4.0 hosts that we're starting to migrate VMs over (Seperate vCenter server, etc).

Here is the scenario:

- We shutdown and "Remove from inventory" the Windows 2008 64-bit guest from the ESX 3.5 side.

- On the ESX 4.0 side, Browse the datastore, find the VM, add Virtual Machine to Inventory

- Power up the Virtual Machine. It eventually tells us a VMware Tools upgrade is available (which we expected), so we intiate a VMware Tools Auto Upgrade from the vCenter server.

- The upgrade never completes (It never uninstalls the previous version, or reboots the VM).

Windows 2008 32-bit guest upgrades work as expected (as do 32 and 64 bit Windows 2003 guests).

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Dean

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10 Replies
microkid
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Did you choose a silent or interactive install? Interactive seems to go smoother I noticed. Silent might sometimes do nothing here too.

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beneddt
Contributor
Contributor

Yes, a Interactive Tools install works fine. However I'd rather not have to perform that method on 500+ VM's Smiley Wink

dean

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RStuart
Contributor
Contributor

I am having the same issues on vmtools upgrade on Server 2008 x64 machines, even in interactive mode.

Any suggestions ?

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Texiwill
Leadership
Leadership

Hello,

Moved to Virtual Machine and Guest OS forum.


Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst[/url]
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'[/url]
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'[/url]
[url=http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll]SearchVMware Pro[/url]|Blue Gears[/url]|Top Virtualization Security Links[/url]|Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast[/url]

--
Edward L. Haletky
vExpert XIV: 2009-2023,
VMTN Community Moderator
vSphere Upgrade Saga: https://www.astroarch.com/blogs
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Texiwill
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admin
Immortal
Immortal

thanks for reporting the problem.

Automatic tools ugprade should work fine on the Win2008 X64 guest VM.

can you please eloberate the problem for debugging.

1. Are you doing Automatic tools upgrade at guest poweron / Automatic tools upgrade from VCUI.

2.

Are you seeing any error message/ windows popup's inside the guest

during automatic tools upgade ( if yes , can you please post us the

screenshot)

3. can you pos us the VMware.log ( logs will be located at VM folder in the host) for the VM

-prathap J

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VMmatty
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

I know that there is occasionally an issue with install VMware Tools for ESX 4 on Windows 2008 guests where the previous version does not uninstall properly. To fix that, you have to run an interactive install and do the following:

1) Switch to the CD-ROM with the VMware Tools ISO mounted.

2) Run setup.exe /c to do a manually removal of the registry keys from the previous VMware Tools version

3) Re-run the setup.

In your case that doesn't seem to be the issue if it works as expected during interactive installs. Have you tried using VMware Update Manager to manage the deployment of VMware Tools? I've had good success with that.

Matt | http://www.thelowercasew.com | @mattliebowitz
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beneddt
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for the suggestion VMmatty. The uninstall with /c switch does work (Although it's not going to be fun to perform it for over 500 VM's). I hadn't thought of the Update Manager approach, I will look into it.

Thanks

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msemon1
Expert
Expert

I hate to ask the obvious, but how do you control VMware Tools installation via Update Manager? I see in the update repository updates for VMware Tools, however, I can't find where to configure VMware Tools installation and configuration options.

Mike

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charliehawkins
Contributor
Contributor

I thanks you also VMmatty. But I would also like to mention that my error was "...vmware auto upgrade is not supported on this OS" or similar. I will examine this in the future and my other 2k8 boxes that will be built. I hope that the new 2k8 boxes will support auto-update. My boxes solved with your suggestion were moved from a 3.5 enviroment.

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VMjkasalVM
Contributor
Contributor

I too am getting the Same error. By any chance, did any of you Install Windows 2008 64 Bit using the Vista 64bit VM option? The Guests I am having issues with were setup this way. I am wondering if the work around for Early adopters of Win2k8 screwed our selves by Creating Vista 64 Bit VMs to install Win2K8 on.

Thoughts?

Jkasal

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