Vmnetbridge.dll fails to copy to c:\Windows\system32

[gcurry1234]

Ok, so I upgraded from Workstation 7 to 8, during the install I received the message “An error occurred while copying file vmnetbridge.dll.”

After installation was complete, I did not have a bridge connection available to the VM’s. I see from other people posts that others have similar problems, however I have tried all the available fixes but nothing resolves the issue.

When I run "net start vmnetbridge" from the command line is replies with service name is unknown

I tried “vnetlib64 – install bridge” but it has the same error, I also tried uninstall, reinstall.

I have removed Workstation reinstalled it, run setup as administrator, and logged in as administrator but receive the same error during setup.

Also I tried restoring defaults inside VM Workstaion>Network Editor, but receive the same error.

I even did a repair on the installation but it did not resolve the issue.

Does anyone have any more suggestions for fixing this?

Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

[jbudreau]

Can you upload the vm*.log files from your %temp% directory after an install where vmnetbridge.dll fails to get copied.  Those logs files should give us a clue about what's happening on your system.

Thanks,

Joel

[continuum]

I have seen that as well - here a screen pops up asking for the path of vmnetbridge.dll

make sure that you dont miss any popups - they hide behind other screens

If you see the screen just show the path to your installation directory

[gcurry1234]

Sorry for the delay in response.

Log file is attached

as a fun side effect i have discovered that all other VM products have stopped working on this box. VI client says vpxclient has stopped working as soon as you click on the icon to launch it and Power CLI just opens then closes a few seconds later. It might be easier to just rebuild this box, since I only use to administer our vm products.

thanks for your help!

[gcurry1234]

Sorry, no path box. All I get is a box trying to copy the .dll to c:\windows\system32 then another box that says file copy failed retry or cancel.

I guess the good people at VM did not expect this error because the error message in the box stops mid sentence.

[jokke]

You could try the trick to install the service through rundll32.exe. Regarding vnetlib you could try "vnetlib64 -- install legacy".

[jbudreau]

Besides the vminst.log file there should also be a few vmsetup*.log files in your %temp% directory.  Can you attach those files to thread as well?

[gcurry1234]

Sorry guys, I rebuilt the workstation, it was impacting my job to much. If it was just workstation not working then that was not such a big deal but all the VM products did not work.

After I rebuilt everything worked just fine, thanks for everyone help.

Graeme

[MitchVan]

I did not see a final solution to this thread.  I have encountered the same problem.  I have attached my setup log files.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[jbudreau]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs

Can you go to the above registry key and delete any entries that reference vmnetbridge.dll, then try your workstation installation again.

[MitchVan]

There are no entries in that for vmnetbridge.dll in that key.

[jbudreau]

Here's another possible solution:

1. Run a /clean with the new installer package (i.e. "vmware-workstation.exe" /clean).

2. Delete the following registry key if it exists: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\UpgradeCodes\3F935F414A4C79542AD9C8D157A3CC39

3. Reboot your machine and attempt to install Workstation again.

[MitchVan]

Still no love.

My machine is on a managed network that runs McAfee and HIPs.  Any thought on whether one of them may be causing these issues?  I had trouble with the previous version of HIPs and VMware 8.0.  That problem was resolved with the new version but I am wondering if HIPs may be blocking something that VMware is attempting to do while setting up its networking.

[gcurry123]

Well whatever the problem is they have not fixed it in 8.0.4, my computer tried to upgrade workstation and exactly the same thing happened.

I am beginning to think it is some sort of user access control thing or it is some conflict with another VMware product installed on the machine.

I have vSphere client, Converter, PowerCLI, VMware View Agent.

I have removed all virus scanners so it’s not that, I really don’t want to rebuild this box again.

[gcurry123]

Ok, I have removed all the VMware software from my machine.

I have ran the workstation exe with the /clean

I ran the clean script from VMware KB http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1308

Then followed the steps in the same KB just to be sure every thing was gone.

Rebooted and tried to install, same error.

Looks like I will be rebuilding my machine tomorrow!

[jbudreau]

I'm sorry that you keep running into these problems.  We've opened a bug internally to address this network install error.

You can also try running "start /wait vnetlib -- uninstall all" and "start /wait vnetlib -- install default".  To vnetlib, "uninstall all" means all networking, and "install default" runs the same code path as a fresh install of Workstation.  These are shortcuts to debugging the issue without having to uninstall/install the entire Workstation product.

[mneth]

I thought i'd bring this back from the dead since I found a workaround that has worked multiple times for me after seeing this issue with v8 and v9:

Run the install like usual, let it error out on the vmnetbridge.dll copy and hit cancel and then let it finish the install.

After the install is done, go to the vmware workstation install folder and copy vmnetbridge.dll to c:\windows\system32 and copy vmnetbridge.sys and vmnet.sys to c:\windows\system32\drivers

Back in the vmware workstation folder open netbridge.inf and find and comment out these lines (put a semicolon at the start of the line to comment it out):

;vmnetbridge.dll,,,2

;vmnet.sys,,,2

;vmnetbridge.sys,,,2

Now open a command prompt and cd into the vmware workstation folder and run this command:

vnetlib64.exe -- install bridge

(Or if you're using 32bit run

vnetlib.exe -- install bridge

)

Be sure to have a space after the --

At this point it should prompt about the driver being unsigned or missing a publisher. I installed anyways and then bridging worked once again.

[xiximi]

我将之前的workstation卸载后重新安装时也遇到同样的问题，因为我前后两次的安装位置和位于的文件名都相同，同在D盘下的“vmware”文件夹中，后来我将安装的目录调整为D:\vmware_01后就可以安装了，估计重新安装到其他分区也是可以的（我没试过），希望对你有所帮助。