Unable to backup Windows AD Server with VMware Tools installed

[Ybbom]

Hi Folks

We have some Windows Server 2012 R2 VMs running in DMZ environment. An easy way to backup them is using the integrated Windows Server backup functionality. We recently updated our VMware Tools version from 10.0.9 to 10.1.5 and after this update we weren’t able to use successfully run a system state backup with the integrated Windows Server backup function because we got the following error message every time we tried to backup them:

Error in backup of C:\windows\\systemroot\ during enumerate: Error [0x8007007b] The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.

After short investigation we found a registry key under “HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vsock” named “ImagePath” with the value “\SystemRoot\system32\drivers\vsock.sys” from type “REG_EXPAND_SZ”. This paths originally references to a device driver SYS file under “C:\windows\system32\drivers\vsock.sys” which is used for the vSocket Service API (prior known as VMCI as far as I know).

After we changed this value from “\SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\vsock.sys” to “system32\DRIVERS\vsock.sys” we were able to successfully backup our Servers without any error messages. We also tried to reinstall/repair the VMware Tools and also installed the latest stable 10.1.7 but the VMware Tools provides every time an incorrect path. 

Is someone else facing this issue or aware of it?

@VMware: Is there any change planned in a future VMware Tools releases?

Kind regards,

Ybbom

[JMalik]

We've recently patched our DEV environment and come across the same problem. In our case I changed "\systemroot\" to "%systemroot%" and we've been able to backup successfully.

[Ybbom]

Hi JMalik

I did the same, a simple change in the registry helps or using VMware Tools at version 10.0.9 is also possible.

I opened an SR and regarding to the VMware Support they are currently logging an PR for this bug.

Kind regards,
Ybbom

[ryamry]

I ran across the same issue today.

For me, changing \systemroot\ to %systemroot% resulted in a new error, stating "C:\windows\c:\" couldn't be found. Ultimately, I had to change the ImagePath entry from

\systemroot\system32\DRIVERS\vsock.sys

to

system32\DRIVERS\vsock.sys

Then all was good after that.

[Ming Hua Zhou]

We are aware of this issue, it is fixed in the upcoming 10.2.0 tools. For 10.1.x tools, please run the work-around PowerCLI script in the attached file SetVsockRegistryImagePath.zip.

This is a light weight script, it will not cause any guest down time, no guest reboot required. it's safe to run it multiple times.

Please read the script carefully, customize it with your environment specific information before running it.

Thank you!

[Wunderwuzi]

Have had the same problem. Installing VMware Tools at least 10.1.10 solves the problem.

[Ixtent]

In our case we tried VmWare tools 10.1.15 but without success. Manual change in registry was required (also script provided above would probably work, as it does only this registry change).

[anthonyw]

where do you get vmware tools 1.1.10 from?

[Ixtent]

We had similar issue in our environment. In our case, we were able to create Windows Server Backup (Windows Server 2016 - Domain Controller), but during system state restore, restore failed on System Writer step. Changing registry value to system32\drivers\vsock.sys solved this problem.