Beta 3 - VMware Tools Error

[Andreas_Masur]

I have set up a virtual machine containing Windows 2000. Fresh install, no service packs. During the installation of VMware Tools the attached error message popped up. Installation went further without any other problems.

However, every time the virtual machine is booted, the same error pops up. What is the application supposed to do? Looks like any application dealing with help files....

The exact error message is:

Ciao, Andreas

Message was edited by Andreas Masur: Added exact error message...

[Andreas_Masur]

I am currently unable to attach any file...it sits there forever trying to contact the VMware server to attach the file...will porivde it later once it works again....

Ciao, Andreas

[Andreas_Masur]

Hmmm....after renaming the file from 'vmacthlp.png' to 'fusion.png' it worked...

Ciao, Andreas

[admin]

Are you sure it's part of tools, or is it possible the appearance is coincidence? Does it go away if you uninstall tools? Have you been able to find the log (maybe search for recently created files)? What does it say?

[Andreas_Masur]

Okay...have tested some more...the application definitely belongs to VMware since it is visible in the 'VMware Tools' folder. There are also two files which apparently are not written every time the crash happens. I have attached both (-> 'vmacthlp.log' and 'vmacthlp.txt'). The log file does not really say anything valuable and neither does the text file.

So...I looked at the system log file and...could actually see an error that seems to relate to this process:

'system.log') as well. Finally, I went ahead and looked at the Dr. Watson file and the corresponding dump. It is a regular access violation (0x00000005) which is actually one of my favorites...

There are no debug information added to the executable since there are no symbol names otherwise, it should be easy to track this one down using the accompanying map file. If you need further investigation let me know, I will leave the virtual machine as is for now. Again....both the Dr. Watson file (-> 'drwtsn32.log') as well as the dump (-> 'user.dmp') have been attached.

I then started the installer for the tools again and removed the tools completely. After the restart there were several devices that Windows needed to add. Most of them went without any problem, however, it complained about a new VGA controller. It could not find any drivers for it so I disabled it at some point in time. However the crash was gone...

After that, I went ahead and tried to install the tools again. This time I chose the typical installation (originally I used the custom one although I left the settings unchanged), but right after trying to start the service, I got the same error message again.

I hope this helps for looking into it further...as being said...just let me know if you need further information or some debugging time from me...

Ciao, Andreas

[Andreas_Masur]

Okay....while I was looking at this issue, I noticed another one which may be in relation to that. The network performance using either bridged- or host-only-networking was awfully slow. For the 4.8 MB dump file, it took me more or less 5 or 6 minutes using bridged-networking. It was slightly way faster (3 minutes) using host-only-networking. Given that the network connection showed 1 GB/s this is...well...far from what it should be.

Having said this, this was while the tools were installed but the one process killed right away. At the same time, it took nearly an eternity while W2K prepared the network connections before the login screen was available. Although uninstalling the tools did not help with the speed of the copy process (although the network this time only had 10 MB/s), the eternity preparing the network connections before the login screen was gone.

Ciao, Andreas

[Andreas_Masur]

Any news?

Ciao, Andreas

[SMB1]

Install Service Pack 4 maybe? I've had 2k running in Fusion before and installed the tools without problems but I always upgrade to the latest service pack and apply any other patches before installing the tools.

[Andreas_Masur]

Install Service Pack 4 maybe? I've had 2k running in

Fusion before and installed the tools without

problems but I always upgrade to the latest service

pack and apply any other patches before installing

the tools.

Well...can be of course due to the service packs....may be I want to try that. However, I actually do not need that virtual machine in the first place. It was just quicker to install W2K than XP for a test.

I probably will go ahead and make a backup of the current state and then try to install the service packs. However, it is just an access violation...thus should be easy to find.

Ciao, Andreas

[Andreas_Masur]

Okay...have filed a support request to allow tracking the issue....

Ciao, Andreas

[jim_gill]

Andreas,

Thank you for reporting the problem. I haven't able to reproduce it on Window 2000 Pro Gold (no service pack), nor on an SP4 install. Were you perhaps using Win2000 Server or Advanced Server? Anything else unusual about this virtual machine? Did you choose an Easy Install with automatic installation of Tools, or did you install the virtual machine the traditional way?

In any event, vmacthlp isn't important to that VM. It's used to help the transition back and forth with the Boot Camp partition, and Apple doesn't support Win2000 as a Boot Camp resident. Fusion Tools installs it into every virtual machine, and it is designed to exit immediately when it's not in the Boot Camp partition. In your virtual machine, it appears to be exiting too abruptly.

You can turn off the service (and the error message) by going into Settings | Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services. Double-click VMware Physical Disk Helper Service, and change the Startup type from "Automatic" to "Disabled".

[Andreas_Masur]

Jim,

Wow....that was in incredible fast answer...

I did install a regular Windows 2000 Professional (MSDN version but should not matter). Virtual machine was/is set up with 512 MB RAM and 1 virtual processor. Nothing unusual otherwise. Installation medium was the installation disk. No Easy Install.

As I said, this was only a test virtual machine to try something different. I actually do not worry about the problem as of now since I do not intend to use the machine for anything else. I have not tried it after installing some service packs yet....probably will do that.

I was just thinking along the lines that is seems to be some easy thing to fix (dereferencing invalid pointer etc.) by looking at the Dr. Watson message. Using a map file and knowing the symbol name it should be easily traceable...

Ciao, Andreas

[jim_gill]

should be traceable...

Yes, and thank you for posting them (and the log).

[Andreas_Masur]

Jim,

Should I keep this VM for now in case you need further tests etc.? I was already thinking about uploading the VM somewhere so that you can run it. This should actually give you the same error I assume. Just need to take care about the licensing...

Ciao, Andreas

[jasonboche]

Andreas,

In any event, vmacthlp isn't important to that VM. It's used to help the transition back and forth with the Boot Camp partition, and Apple doesn't support Win2000 as a Boot Camp resident. Fusion Tools installs it into every virtual machine, and it is designed to exit immediately when it's not in the Boot Camp partition. In your virtual machine, it appears to be exiting too abruptly.

You can turn off the service (and the error message) by going into Settings | Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services. Double-click VMware Physical Disk Helper Service, and change the Startup type from "Automatic" to "Disabled".

At what point does the VMware Tools installation decide to install the VMware Physical Disk Helper Service? I'm not seeing this service on most of the VMs in my environment, however, I'm seeing that it is installed on a Windows XP Professional VM that was once a physical machine and it was subsequently P2Vd. VMware Tools insists on installing this service on the P2Vd VM and I'm trying to prevent it from installing because the service fails to start when not installing the Toolbox component of the VMware Tools installation.

Thank you,

Jas

[i]Jason Boche[/i]

[VMware Communities User Moderator|http://www.vmware.com/communities/content/community_terms/][/i]

[Minneapolis Area VMware User Group Leader|http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmug/us-central/minneapolis][/i]