Win2003 does not shutdown when installing VM-Tools of Workstation 6.5.0 or Server 2.0.0

[pgautschi]

When installing the VM-Tools of Workstation 6.5.0 or Server 2.0.0 in a Windows 2003 SP1 or SP2 guest,

the guest system hangs during shutdown forever and uses 100% CPU.

I can reproduce this on two different machines (Win2008 64bit with Server 2.0 and XP 32bit with

Workstation 6.5) with two different Win2003 32bit Guest installations (Windows only, no additional software)

It used to work with the old tools. (Probably from WS 5.5.x or 6.0.x)

Any ideas how to fix?

[ericgentry]

Sorry to hear about this issue. I have confirmed that Win2003 seems to work fine after Tools from WS6.5.0 are installed and the required reboot does not hang. I used a Win2003 Standard Server x64 Edition with SP2 VM.

Can you please post the logs from the install inside of the VM (%temp%\vm*.log)? These should tell us where to start looking for the problem.

[pgautschi]

Thank you for your reply. I attached the log files.

The reboot initated by the tool-installation process works. Any subseqent shutdown does not.

The are some errors in the log files AFTER the first reboot:

tools-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:00 Begin Logging

tools-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:00 Checking for manual video driver install

tools-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:00 Getting Property DRIVER_VIDEO = C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\Drivers\video\

tools-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:00 Did not find file/directory: "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\Drivers\video
install.txt"

tools-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:00 End Logging

tools-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:00 Begin Logging

tools-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:00 Getting Property CustomActionData =

tools-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:00 Getting Property REMOVE =

tools-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:00 Finishing installation: Releasebuild-118166

tools-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:00 ##############################################################

tools-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:00 End Logging

BootStrapper-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:02 MsiInstallProduct returned 1641

BootStrapper-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:02 Checking if we need reboot

BootStrapper-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:02 Cannot retrieve reboot component(s) from registry. Trying from files

BootStrapper-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:02 Did not find file/directory: "C:\DOCUME_1\ADMINI1\LOCALS~1\Temp
vmreboot.tmp"

BootStrapper-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:02 The reboot file does not exist

BootStrapper-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:02 Reboot(0) []

BootStrapper-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:02 Setup exit code is 1641

BootStrapper-build-118166: 09/26/08 06:24:02 End Logging

I can send you the complete VM if it helps.

[edhead]

I am experiencing the same issue. Workstation 6.5, Windows 2003 guest on XP host. After installing the newest tools, reboots fine, and then all subsequent reboots hang on the grey shutdown screen.

[ericgentry]

Actually, everything in the logs look normal. So, let's continue with the VM. Please send me a private message with how to obtain the VM, as I don't think it would be wise to post it to this forum.

[ericgentry]

Thanks for your post. If you would like to send me your VM, I would be glad to take a look. Please send me a private message with how to obtain it.

Also, if there are others watching this post, we will continue to communicate via this thread if a resolution is found.

[InforMed_Direct]

Can I just pop my head in here and say I've got exactly the same problem. Fine before VMware tools update - hangs on shutdown afterwards. WS 6.5 - downloaded a couple of days ago.

Cheers, Rob.

[pgautschi]

Did the download of my VM work? Any news on the problem? Any solution?

[InforMed_Direct]

I can also put a copy of the VM on FTP or send via MailBigFile if needed - it's not a very big VM - it's my base Windows 2003 Server test image.

Cheers, Rob.

[ericgentry]

I haven't had much time to find out the exact problem. I am also asking for another 2003 VM with the same problem. I will take another look as quickly as I can and see if I can find out how to resolve this.

[ericgentry]

Ok. This one has me really scratching my head.

I am pretty sure this has to do with a bad interaction between the audio device id setting and the usb controller settings. Unfortunately, I can't figure out why the problem is occurring.

Fortunately, I can give you some options to avoid the problem. The best option I found was to remove the USB controller altogether. If that is not an option for you, then I also found that disabling the audio driver inside of the guest also allows the system to shutdown successfully (it still take between 10 and 15 seconds, but it works). To disable the audio driver inside the guest, start the guest, copy the attached file into the VM and double click-it inside of the VM. Restart (note that the change will not be effective for the first reboot, but will have effect on all future reboots).

[pgautschi]

Your workaround is not very helpful for me; I need USB and Sound.

As far as I can remeber: The Tools of Server 2 RC2 did not suffer from this problem and worked correctly.

It might be helpful to check the changes in the sourcecode between the two Server builds.

[ericgentry]

Sorry that you unable to utilize any of my suggestions. I have passed a pointer to this discussion along to another team who may be able to help you further.

[ericgentry]

Thanks to some excellent help from some other teams, we now have a workaround that will allow both USB and audio to continue to work.

Steps to enabling the workaround...

1. Shutdown the VM.

2. Close Workstation.

3. Manually edit the .vmx file in the directory that the VM is stored by adding a line to the end of the file with the following exact text...

mouse.vusb.enable = "FALSE"

That's it!

The issue has to do with IRQs and the fact that we sometimes provide a virtual USB mouse instead of the standard mouse inside of a VM.

[pgautschi]

This works!

(Because I'm investigating USB stuff right now, I did not like the extra USB devices anyway. And with this

workaround, I got rid of those...)

Thanks for your help.

[InforMed_Direct]

>mouse.vusb.enable = "FALSE"

That worked for me as well.

Cheers, Rob.

[edhead]

Worked for me too. Thanks!

[klamerus]

While this work-around fixes all my Windows 2003 failing to shutdown as well I'd be very inerested in knowing when EMC is going to fix this so that a work-around isn't necessary.

I do quite a few VMs and I'd rather not have to remember to edit what should be getting created properly.

Any ideas on when a fix may be forthcoming?

[ericgentry]

VMware is now aware of the issue. As always, we strive to better our products in every release.

The three workarounds we provided are the best we can do in the short-term. Long-term, we will attempt to put a fix for this in a future release, as soon as we can finish properly diagnosing the issue, coming up with a permanent solution, implementing and fully testing it.

[InforMed_Direct]

Has this issue been fixed in the latest release of workstation (v6.5.1) which came out a few weeks ago?

Thanks, Rob.