VMWare Workstation 12.5.5 / VMWare USB Arbitration Service

[KevinGG]

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.

[bluefirestorm]

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

[KevinGG]

Thanks for the response, I've copied that in and tried again, but its still reporting the same error.

Regards,

Kevin.

[bluefirestorm]

Is the file vmusb.sys also present in %windir%\system32\drivers ?

[KevinGG]

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

[bluefirestorm]

This appeared on the right hand side.

cannot start usb arbitration service

Have you tried the "Repair" installation?

[KevinGG]

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.

[bluefirestorm]

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.

[KevinGG · Accepted solution]

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.