VMWare Tools fails to install (Windows 7)

[TECH198]

I have done a clean install of Windows 7 under VMWare Fusion 12, but certain drivers fail to install:

No idea what this is..

Shared folders fails: (HGFS)

VMWare Tools now asks to install Video driver as it's signed. (only appears on Windows 7)

How to install shared folders? As VMWare Tools now packages everything into "Setup" file. no more standalone drivers folder anymore.

[hkang]

Please see whether the workaround in VMware Fusion 12 Release Notes  helps.  Copied from the known issues section as below:

After the easy install operation is complete, the VMware Tools is not installed in the guest operating system

Easy install will not install VMware tools in some guest operating systems including Windows 7, Windows server 2012 R2 and Windows server 2008 R2. This is because some specific Windows update packages need to be installed manually prior to VMware Tools installation.

Workaround: Perform the following steps after the guest operating system becomes ready:

For Windows 7 and Windows server 2008 R2 Guest:

1. Review the information available here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4472027/2019-sha-2-code-signing-support-requirement-for-windows-and-wsus.
2. Manually get the windows update, then download and install the required Windows updates, available at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4474419/sha-2-code-signing-support-update and https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4490628/servicing-stack-update-for-windows-7-sp1-and-windows-server-2008-r2.
3. Manually install VMware Tools in the guest operating system.

For Windows server 2012 R2 Guest:

1. Manually get the windows update, then download and install the Update Package (KB2919355) from https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=42334.
2. Install the .NET 3.5 Framework from Add Roles and Features Wizard.
3. Manually install VMware Tools in the guest operating system.

[tristant01]

Still accurate, even on VmWare Workstation 16 !

[Truepeace]

Thank you so much, this fixed my issue as well, and to summarize it, I installed Windows6.1-KB4474419-v3-x64.msu and Windows6.1-KB4490628-x64.msu from the windows catalog website, rebooted and I could install VMware tools ! Plus windows update worked ! 

[Jamie McKenna]

A few broken links along the way so the full names of the update files helped me.

[hicall]

hi bro hkang!

thanks for your sharing, it helped my current project since my customer using win 7 32 bit as legacy physical server and want to moving to vmware vsphere using vcenter converter, many thumbs up!

 

regards,

haikal shiddiq

[checho_85]

I installed the updates on Wmware Workstation 16.1, but Windows 7 continues to error when attempting to install VMware Tools.

The Error is: "vmware installation launcher has stopped working"

Any advice how to overcome? Maybe Workstation version is too and Vmware Tools version is too new for Windows 7?

 

[wtstephens]

I was able to download the Windows 7 updates from these 2 links:

https://catalog.update.microsoft.com/search.aspx?q=kb4474419

https://catalog.update.microsoft.com/search.aspx?q=4490628

And after installing them both, the VMware Tools installed perfectly! Super!

I am using VMware Workstation 17 Pro -- 17.0.0

 

[Rosariob65]

Great! me too

[jacilore]

Hi all.

But how can you install those updates for W7?. My W7 VM, doesn't seem to work for copying and/or installing anything. (Because precisely the issue of not having VMWare Tools installed, I tend to think).

And I can't see any way to install anything other than the "Install VMWare Tools" of the menu which can't be installed.

So obviously I'm missing something, but what?. To me is like a vicious circle I can't solve.

Thanks and regards.

[Technogeezer]

Copy/paste/drag/drop definitely won't work without VMware Tools, but networking should. That being said, you might be caught with Internet Explorer on Windows 7 not supporting current HTTPS standards, which would make downloading updates directly to the VM a challenge. 

Try downloading the updates to a Mac, then writing them to a USB stick formatted with FAT. Then use Fusion to attach that USB stick to the VM and install the updates from there. 

 

[jacilore]

Yes, I wasn't planning to download by VW internet., but when I tried, then I found another dead end street.

Even what you told me doesn't seem easy for me,but I will try.

Thanks a lot, it seems you became aware of my issue.

Regards.

 

[jacilore]

BTW, Technogeezer, do you know if it would be easier to install a VM in Windows 8.1?

[Technogeezer]

Not sure. I don’t have much to do with older Windows versions lately other than getting them to Windows 10 because those old versions are unsupported and insecure. I’d have to try it. 

[Technogeezer]

For what it's worth, I just ran an experiment. Tools install fine out of the box on a freshly installed Windows 8.1 VM running on Fusion 13.5 .The version of Tools installed was 12.3.0 build 22234872.

[jacilore]

Hi, thanks very much. I was going to answer you about this recent first post that I was going to try to install W8.1 myself in VMWare Player 17.5, instead of the W7 I was trying. (No need to do it yourself, but I really appreciate your kind help).

So, anyway, you tested in Fusion that 8.1 install could be easier than W7 virtualization, right?

(I understand Vm Fusion is like the Mac's version of the VMWare Player i have. Is that also right?)

Many thanks again and regards.

 

 

[Technogeezer]

---

 wrote:

So, anyway, you tested in Fusion that 8.1 install could be easier than W7 virtualization, right?

(I understand Vm Fusion is like the Mac's version of the VMWare Player i have. Is that also right?)

Many thanks again and regards.

---

VMware Fusion (for the Mac) and Workstation (for Windows/Linux PCs) are very much alike (but not exactly, due to the platform differences). 

And yes, I found that Windows 8.1 installed very easily. 

[Technogeezer]

I was able to get a Windows 7 fresh install with VMware Tools, but it is plain ugly. 

There are updates that you have to get into the VM in order to get the tools installed and so that Windows can apply all of its updates. That's squarely on Microsoft - they don't make it easy for anyone to install Windows 7 from scratch at this time. Nothing Fusion related in those problems. 

You'll need:

• Windows Update Agent 7.6
• KB3125574
• KB4474419
• KB4490628

Problem is IE in the VM can't get them for you.  And you can't install Firefox to get them because, well, Mozilla dropped WIndows 7.

I've resorted to downloading them onto my Mac from Microsoft (the KB MSU updates from the Microsoft Update Catalog, and search for the Windows Update Agent 7.6 installler), and enabling file sharing and then Windows file sharing for that folder. That enabled me to get the updates onto the VM, then I could install all of them.

Bottom line: unless you know what you're doing and are willing to waste some time, avoid Windows 7 and go to WIndows 8.1. - or preferably Windows 10 or 11.  At Windows 8.1 least it installs without all of the grief of Windows 7.

 

 

[VMware Community Member]

but how did you copy the updates to the VM for installation, since VMWARE tools is not installed, cannot copy files from host to the VM.

[Technogeezer]

It takes a little creativity to figure out what you have available in the VM without VMware Tools and an obsolete browser that doesn’t support todays security features. 

You have networking. You can configure Windows file sharing on your Mac (see macOS documentation for instructions).  Put the updates in that shared folder.  Mount that folder using Windows Explorer in the VM, and copy the updates to your VMs hard drive. This doesn’t need a web browser. 

You have a virtual CD drive. You can create an ISO of a folder and mount that ISO on the drive. Or burn the folder to a real CD and mount that to the VM. Use Windows Explorer to copy the files.  

You have USB device support. Copy the updates to a FAT formatted USB stick. Connect that USB device to the VM. Use Windows Explorer to copy the files. 

[RDPetruska]

---

 wrote:

but how did you copy the updates to the VM for installation, since VMWARE tools is not installed, cannot copy files from host to the VM.

---

The VMware Tools' Shared Folder feature backdoor is only one method of transferring files between the host computer and a virtual machine.  As Technogeezer stated in his reply, he enabled Windows File Sharing and used that (which, honestly, using bog-standard Windows File Sharing / CIFS or SAMBA is a *much* more robust and secure approach than the backdoor).  Another method would be to "burn" the files to an ISO image (or physical CD, but not needed since Fusion can mount an ISO image just like a physical CD/DVD), mount the image to the VM and copy the files from the VM's CD-ROM drive to its hard drive.  

[mboldrick]

Thank you,  and . After much stumbling on my own and using suggestions from other threads, your info, along with another post pointing me to the VMware Tools ISO, allowed me to get Windows 7 Pro installed on Workstation Pro 17. After performing the suggested steps, I had about 5 seconds of panic, when the VMware Tools ISO didn't seem to be recognized. Then, happily, the run dialog popped up. It merely took it a few seconds to automatically start.