This is a known issue but there is a work-around that was proposed by VMware support that has worked for some people. Give it a try.
"Regarding this issue, first let me say that windows vista has not been fully tested and is not currently supported for running VIC. My recommendation is to not run VIC on windows Vista at this current time. The problem here is due to the differences between windows 2000/xp/2003 vs windows vista. VI client is trying to look for time zone information inside registry, in a location that does not exist in windows vista. You can verify by:
On your win xp box, look under registry, local machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Time Zones Now go to your windows vista, look under the registry and try to locate the same folder (it's not there).
There are 2 possible workarounds.
1. clone without customization. After cloning, make sure new VM is disconnected from network, start up the new VM, run sysprep to generate a new ssid and network information for the new windows. Please refer to Microsoft articles for how to use sysprep.
2. Note that if you choose to take try this second workaround, you must be willing to take full responsibility on what the changes may do to your windows vista. Simply go to your windows xp machine registry, look for local machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Time Zones, and export the time zones folder to a .reg file. Copy that file to windows vista and import that into the registry. This works for me (but I only tested it briefly), again, you will have to decide whether you want to do this or not."
