Can anyone assist me with this please?
The VMWare USB Arbitration Service is failing to start on my Windows 10/VMWS 12.5.5 - It was working OK, until the 12.5.5 upgrade, which crashed during the installation on the first attempt. Second attempt went through OK and all other VMWS function are working OK, but I need to connect host USB devices to my VMs.
I've tried various suggestions, but in a final act of desperation, I removed VMWS completely and ran the cleanup function to have a clean start. The installation completed with no errors, however I'm still getting the same result.
Running the process in foreground mode (logged in as member of local Admin group, elevated command prompt) outputs the results below:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\VMware\USB>"C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\VMware\USB\vmware-usbarbitrator64" -f --verbose --debug 10"
DICT --- GLOBAL SETTINGS C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware USB Arbitration Service\settings.ini
DICT --- NON PERSISTENT
DICT --- USER PREFERENCES
DICT --- USER DEFAULTS C:\Users\Kgutter\AppData\Roaming\VMware\config.ini
DICT --- HOST DEFAULTS C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware USB Arbitration Service\config.ini
DICT --- SITE DEFAULTS C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware USB Arbitration Service\config.ini
VMware USB Arbitration Service Version 15.2.0
USBGW: Host controller #0 hc= "\\?\HCD0"
USBGW: Host controller #0 rootHubName="USB#ROOT_HUB30#4&259312ca&0&0#{f18a0e88-c30c-11d0-8815-00a0c906bed8}"
USBGW: Host controller #0 rootHubDevInst="USB\ROOT_HUB30\4&259312ca&0&0"
USBArbW: Could not connect to HCMON: The system cannot find the file specified (2)
USBArb: USBArbInit failed with error:2
USBArb: SetServiceStatus error on failure The handle is invalid (6)
Which seems to suggest that HCMON is missing,
"C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vnetlib64.exe" -- install hcmon
Returns to the command prompt reporting nothing, should it?
Searching my disk, I find two copies of HCMON.SYS
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\hcmon\Win7\hcmon.sys 83,008 20/02/2017 08:02
C:\Windows\System32\DRVSTORE\hcmon_52975A864B06AA7CE8B8A991E91017927AB21BDD\hcmon.sys 83,008 20/02/2017 08:02
Any suggestions on what I can try next?
Regards,
Kevin.
Thanks again for your help, cracked it!
Looking at the log C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Temp\vminst.log
inst-build-5234757| E1: VNLGetLocalizedString: Failed to allocate a localized string 0x00000002: 317
inst-build-5234757| E1: VNLCopyFileToSystemDir: Failed to copy file: "C:\windows\system32\drivers\hcmon.sys". (null) [2]
1. Ran the repair again (local admin/elavated), same message.
2, Deleted the file that I put in there earlier today.
3. Ran the repair again (local admin/elavated), same message.
4. Copied the file back in again and added the registry keys below....
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\EventLog\System\hcmon
EventMessageFile REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemRoot%\System32\IoLogMsg.dll;%SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\hcmon.sys
TypesSupported REG_DWORD 7
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\hcmon
Description REG_SZ VMware USB Host Controller Monitor
DisplayName REG_SZ VMware hcmon
ErrorControl REG_DWORD 1
ImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\hcmon.sys
Start REG_DWORD 2
Type REG_DWORD 1
5. Rebooted machine, and VMWare USB Arbitation Service is now running.
So, no conclusive reason why the file was failing to copy, but up and running now.
I have 3 hcmon.sys. In addition to the two you listed the other is in %windir%\System32\Drivers
Copy the hcmon.sys from the DRVSTORE subfolder to %windir%\System32\Drivers
Thanks for the response, I've copied that in and tried again, but its still reporting the same error.
Regards,
Kevin.
Is the file vmusb.sys also present in %windir%\system32\drivers ?
Hi, it wasn't so I've copied it in, there are now three copies of vmusb.sys
c:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\vmusb\Win8\vmusb.sys 20/02/2017 08:02 69,696
c:\Windows\System32\drivers\vmusb.sys 20/02/2017 08:02 69,696
c:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\vmusb.inf_amd64_964daf583622022b\vmusb.sys 20/02/2017 08:02 69,696
But same result:
USBArbW: Could not connect to HCMON: The system cannot find the file specified (2)
USBArb: USBArbInit failed with error:2
USBArb: SetServiceStatus error on failure The handle is invalid (6)
Regards,
Kevin
This appeared on the right hand side.
cannot start usb arbitration service
Have you tried the "Repair" installation?
Yes, I've already tried that as well. In the first instance on my original installation and then following the re-install when it still did not work I tried again.
Can you confirm/do you know, when executing:
vnetlib64.exe --install hcmon
I see no errors, just returns back to the command prompt. Is this normal? (or should I expect to see something like hcmon now installed)
Regards,
Kevin.
If you look at C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Temp\vminst.log you will probably see the errors of the vmnetlib64
You may want to check the other vminst log files maybe it will give you a clue why the installation failed.
I messed around with a laptop that has VMware Player 12.5.5 (not Workstation Pro 12.5.5) and did the same command-line options as you had done for the USB arbitration service. I used ProcMon to capture the file and registry access.
It is a lot of stuff to sift through for a just around 100 milliseconds that the service started.
I noticed the usbarbitrator looked for %windir%\system32\bthprops.cpl and %CommonProgramFiles(x86)%\VMware\USB\bthprops.cpl. The odd thing I couldn't find any entry that looked for hcmon.sys so some of these might be implied access through some other process.
Maybe it's worth another try to "Repair" installation.
Thanks again for your help, cracked it!
Looking at the log C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Temp\vminst.log
inst-build-5234757| E1: VNLGetLocalizedString: Failed to allocate a localized string 0x00000002: 317
inst-build-5234757| E1: VNLCopyFileToSystemDir: Failed to copy file: "C:\windows\system32\drivers\hcmon.sys". (null) [2]
1. Ran the repair again (local admin/elavated), same message.
2, Deleted the file that I put in there earlier today.
3. Ran the repair again (local admin/elavated), same message.
4. Copied the file back in again and added the registry keys below....
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\EventLog\System\hcmon
EventMessageFile REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemRoot%\System32\IoLogMsg.dll;%SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\hcmon.sys
TypesSupported REG_DWORD 7
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\hcmon
Description REG_SZ VMware USB Host Controller Monitor
DisplayName REG_SZ VMware hcmon
ErrorControl REG_DWORD 1
ImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\hcmon.sys
Start REG_DWORD 2
Type REG_DWORD 1
5. Rebooted machine, and VMWare USB Arbitation Service is now running.
So, no conclusive reason why the file was failing to copy, but up and running now.