Error 'The MSI " Failed." When trying to uninstall VMWare Workstation 7

[scottorourke]

Hi,

I upgraded from Workstation 6.5 to7, not realising I would need a new license to use 7. After running 7 and realising this, I tried to uninstall Workstation 7, but get the error 'The MSI " Failed.' almost immediately after clicking Continue on the "Ready to perform requested operations" dialog.

I noticed the following errors in the log file:

20091130161946:ERROR** CBootstrapCmd::RunOperation: Operation 'UninstallMSI' failed!

20091130161946:INFO wWinMain:Checking exceptions

20091130161946:INFO wWinMain:Handle error

20091130161946:INFO HandleError: Handling error: lang

20091130161946:ERROR** HandleError: Encountered fatal error id: 26

20091130161946:ERROR** HandleError: Message:

20091130161946:ERROR** DisplayErrorMain: Displaying error message

20091130161946:ERROR** DisplayError Error

20091130161946:ERROR** ================================================================================

20091130161946:ERROR** Rolling Back - ops:19

20091130161946:ERROR** -

---

20091130161946:ERROR** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

20091130161946:ERROR** SettingsDB:

20091130161946:ERROR** -

---

20091130161946:INFO

Any ideas how I can get back to V6.5?

I orginally installed V6, upgraded to V6.5 then 7. This is all on Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit.

Thanks for any help.

Scott.

[ephillipsme]

I am not sure if Vmware know but the code signing certificate appears to have been revoked? This was the cause for my error which is similar. I am also trying to get back to v 6.5 to get operatioinal now.

Ernie

VCP3,VCP4, MCSE, CCA

[trpaslik]

Hi!

I have exactly same error log, but I installed VMware players 2.0 later 2.5 and finally 3.0.

I want to upgrade to 3.0.1, but VMware player 3.0 can't be uninstalled.

So I tried a lot of tips from this page:

but no-one worked.

My final solution is:

• copy VMware-player-3.0.0-203739.exe to root of system disk (I think this is not neccessary), for me c:\

• run command VMware-player-3.0.0-203739.exe /e temp/ (this will extract the content of exe file to c:\temp\)

• run 'vmware player.msi' from folder c:\temp\

• choose remove and hope your uninstallation will be successful too

Hope it helped.

trpaslik

[raekbarton]

Hi,

has there been any solution for this issue? I'm having the exact same problem with the VMware-workstation-full-7.0.0-203739.exe while trying to uninstall on XP SP3. I' also upgraded it from 6.0 > 6.5. I attached the uninstallation log.

Thanks for any input.

[continuum]

read knowledgebase 1308

[raekbarton]

Thanks. Manually deleting the files/drivers/registry keys enabled me to install the new version. In fact, I used the CCleaner at the end of the removal process to make sure that there's no orphan registry key.

Thanks again for pointing me to a right article. I spent a quite bit of time trying to figure out what went wrong. Now, I have the latest version installed and am happy!

[gerson201110141]

Hi all

The answer in my case was a lot simpler:

I run cmd:  VMware-player-3.0.0-203739.exe /x

this will repair the installation, and that's it !

/? gives some tips 😉

/Gerson

[continuum]

pure luck - that does not work for everyone

[veema01]

My own experience indicates that if your home drive or any of the My* folders (Windows) are mapped,

MSIs often fail due to how they are packaged.

Try logging in as local Administrator & running the installation/removal. This always fixes it for me.

HTH

[duplicatedll]

When I try to install VMware 8 it won't let me install because of (Version: ) that I have to uninstall. I had VMware 7 installed and uninstalled it about a month ago and I've been trying to work through this for weeks. When I go to uninstall I get the MSI error. I have no VMware folder on my drive. I went through the registry and deleted anything about VMware. I used a VMware cleaner that didn't work. I tried re-installing VMware 7 that I had installed before but I got the same MSI failed. I've tried safe mode, I've tried changing my %temp% file location. I removed VMware from properties in Local Area Connections and also disabled any VMware services. I tried using the command prompts mentioned as administrator with no luck. Commands weren't recognized as internal or external commands. Not sure what else to try and I've looked at numerous threads and responses and have googled this problem for weeks. Isn't there someway VMware developers can come up with a simply solution script or software program that can fix this. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[duplicatedll]

SUCCESS  - So I thought  manually went into the registry and removed the following keys.

I started the VMware 8 installation and got about 30 seconds into the install and then got this !

Merry *******XMAS to me !

[acrwebline]

Try the following: Copy the vmware installation setup file to C:\folder\setup.exe and go to Start\All Programs\Accessories\ and run the command prompt as an Administrator. Then enter cd.. cd.. until you're back to the root c:\ and then enter cd install and finally enter  setup.exe \z "action"="install" and it should work.

[raymondgibbon]

This worked for me

[duplicatedll]

We'll several months later I thought I'd check back and see if there was any developement in a "VMware Removal tool" that actually works completely on Windows 7 64 systems as well as others. A complete removal. I feel as a consumer of the product I shouldn't have to go through all this rigmarole command prompts, moving files etc,. Its ridiculous.  Whats ironic to me is how VMware is intended to run operating systems in a virtual environment so not to harm a persons actual operating system, yet you can't even install of remove the VMware software itself from my primary operating system. Hillarious !

[mfelker]

The KB article may help but I believe it may be  out-of-date (a least it is for sure in the Linux version - I posted a few additions that I use to completly uninsatll on a Linux host - especially of the kernel modules have been patched)

However this also has worked for me.  Try re-installing  the version you to  want uninstall <same .exe you used to insatll it in the first place>  You'll be presented with screen where one of the options is to uninstall the program. 

Let me know if this works - it has for me.

Marty

[RDPetruska]

"Whats ironic to me is how VMware is intended to run operating systems in  a virtual environment so not to harm a persons actual operating system,  yet you can't even install of remove the VMware software itself from my  primary operating system."

Hey, it's software... it's not perfect.  I can tell you that on close to a dozen different PC's over the past 8 years, on numerous different host OS's, I have installed and uninstalled many different versions of VMware products - Workstation, Server, Player - and have never encountered an issue where I could not uninstall or install them without very simple fixes.  I have had to use the VMware Cleaner utility once or twice, but that's it.  So it definitely is possible.  If they can't duplicate the issue, it's nearly impossible to fix, you know.

[duplicatedll]

SUCCESS !

I have tried removing VMware off my computer for a year. Finally I found a post saying to use a couple products. FREE.

1. Everything Searh Engine / Cleaner  http://www.voidtools.com/

2. RegScanner  http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/regscanner.html

After I thought I had VMware off of my computer, which obviously it wasn't because I couldn't install any new products because it was saying it was still on my system. I ran Everything Search Cleaner and entered "vmware" in the address and hit enter. A boat load of entries came up. I cleaned all those and then ran regscanner. I doulbe checked some of the .dll files to make sure they were associated with Vmware and not integrated MS products or virtualilzation. After I was done rebooted and was then able to install VMware Player which I wasn't able to do earlier today. Pretty excited to run Windows  8 Consumer Preview.

Cheers !

[mfelker]

Won't say this again because whether or not VMware is listening to the community (as they claim) is almost moot any hose that may probably aren't going to tell their bosses anyway. perhaps for job security) For users to have search for party software to cleanup after the installer is pretty unconscionable. This gentleman and other s, including myself, have found that even "uninstalling VMware WS or Player" there are 150 excess registry items is very sloppy for a paid program. Also the fact that a restore point is not created so you would not even have to use these frre programs.

I have been using Windows s8 DP since September and have gotten it much optimized. I 'm have been imaging DP then will install Windows 8 CP. This change is nothing compared to Gnome 3 to my way of thinking. I will install it for the sole reason that Hyper-V is included - a first for a MS consumer product. I will install WS immediately after installing Windows Essential Security (pretty good for a free AV) - and then disable it while I install WS. Windows Defender is installed from m the get -go. O, and make a restore point before installing Ws. VirtualBxo can be installed with VMware although Hyper-V musst be uninstalled This by itself is a good reason to be able to uninstall VMware. The technology is groundbreaking for PC's and I've used it since 1999. However its getting worse every rerlease - even small "updatees" " And of course a major upgrade costs 99 bucks.

On to other things.

[duplicatedll]

If Symantec can come up with an uninstaller so can VMware. If you remember just a few years ago the Norton products were almost impossible to get off a computer. There were allot of complaints as well that it was bloated and a resourse hog. They refined their product and now have the best security software on the market, with an uninstaller that removes their entire product off a computer (except two folders on Windows 7 64 in the ProgramData folder). My point being with VMware being such a leader in virtualization they will need to take a look out how they extract their software onto an operating system in terms of being able to remove it if the uninstall process fails..Not just in the Program Files but in System32, systems services, networking and the registry..

[FrankVeer]

"We'll several months later I thought I'd check back and see if there was  any developement in a "VMware Removal tool" that actually works  completely on Windows 7 64 systems as well as others. A complete  removal. I feel as a consumer of the product I shouldn't have to go  through all this rigmarole command prompts, moving files etc,. Its  ridiculous.  Whats ironic to me is how VMware is intended to run  operating systems in a virtual environment so not to harm a persons  actual operating system, yet you can't even install of remove the VMware  software itself from my primary operating system. Hillarious !"

Exactly my idea! What I want as a user is a simple removal tool that I can execute as an independant program to remover this VMware player. I can't uninstall nor install a new update and I am absolutely not willing to buy a VMware workstation solution if this uninstall problem can't be solved. It's absolutely ridiculous that a program that promises ease of use can't be removed by some simple operations. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place with this program. And it all happened after the program itself suggested a better update, that eventually didn't work. By now I have wasted more time trying to remove VMware Player than I ever will be able to save using it. Now, it's actually sitting there being useless as a virtual overgrown zit on my pc.