To night I had problems with uninstalling VMware Tools in a VM after updating to the latest ESX release.
The uninstaller kept asking me to insert the “VMWare Tools” disk and click OK”.
In the popup window there is pull-down field labeled “Use Source” and in this field is the number one (“1”).
If I tried to browse to the the “VMware Tools.msi” it returns an error: “The file ‘X:\VMware Tools.msi’ is not a valid installation package for the product VMware Tools…”
The solution I used to get around this problem was simply:
- Open the registry
- Locate “[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Installer\Products\8E24D35BB278E034284D0860A513CF1E” and delete it.
(If you don’t want to delete it, just rename it or make a backup first) - Run the VMware Tools installation again.
And wola it nor works 🙂
Thanks! This didn’t work for me, but I just searched for tools.msi in the registry and found a similar key under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. The product ID was different, but the source was tools.msi and the package name was VMWare tools, so I deleted it. Tools uninstalled cleanly after that.
Hi, Johnny
Thanks for your update.
I found the same key on different path … removed it . worked fine…
Under Vmware 5.0+ look for VMware Tools64.msi or VMware Tools.msi.
At least on 64 bit the file “VMware Tools64.msi” was the winner in registry. 😉
Thanks for sharing.
A. Mikkelsen
bacouse entry vary over versions the best solution is to do a search in the registry for the installer.
1. regedit
2. search for “VMware Tools64.msi”
3. delete the complete key
4. install the tools again – it will work now – even if the installer sometime is hanging.