Comments on: How to Manually Remove VMware Tools

By: Ali Fakoor

Ali Fakoor — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 06:26:20 +0000

What if setup.exe is not available in your version [or it does not accept the /c parameter for forcefully cleaning]? Here is a solution:

Run these commands at an (elevated) command prompt:
sc delete vmmouse
sc delete VMMEMCTL
sc delete VMX_svga
sc delete VMTOOLS
sc delete “VMWare Physical Disk Helper Servive”

Now reboot the system and then remove the instllation entries using the windows installer cleanup utility (http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Windows-Installer-CleanUp-Utility-Download-18442.html) [NOTE: This tools was originally available from microsoft website, but was removed due to some issues, see:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2438651

Afterwards you can manually remove the installed program files of the VMWare Tools.

Hope that helps someone [in future]
Ali

By: Ali Fakoor

Ali Fakoor — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 06:20:20 +0000

You can also do the following procedure. Run these commands at an (elevated) command prompt:
sc delete vmmouse
sc delete VMMEMCTL
sc delete VMX_svga
sc delete VMTOOLS
sc delete “VMWare Physical Disk Helper Servive”

Afterwards you can manually remove the installed program files of the VMWare Tools.

HTH,
Ali

By: Craig

Craig — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:45:27 +0000

Here’s an even easier way from a VMware KB article:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1012693

To correct this issue, you must perform a forced uninstall and re-install of VMware Tools.

To uninstall and re-install VMware Tools:
1.Right-click on the virtual machine.
2.Click Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.
3.Open a Console to the virtual machine and log into the guest operating system.
4.Click Start > Run, type cmd, and click OK to open a command prompt in Windows.
5.Change the drive to your CD-ROM drive. For example, D:\.
6.Type setup /c and press Enter to force removal of all registry entries and delete the old version of VMware Tools.
7.In My Computer, double click the CD-ROM that contains VMware Tools.
8.After Auto-Run starts, follow the prompts to install.

Note: This must be done from the GUI interface. Do not launch the install by running Setup from the Command Prompt.

9.When the installation is complete, reboot the guest operating system.

By: Landon

Landon — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 01:15:21 +0000

Great article. It just saved the life of the VM I was working on. Thank you sir!

By: Whocarez

Whocarez — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 07:04:37 +0000

Hi I tried to use to your tutorial. But after trying I realised that it only works on a x86 system. When using x64 additional steps are required. Under HKLM\Sofware\Wow6432Node you’ll find additional vmware keys

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:10:56 +0000

Ok so i followed these steps. I thought i did everything correctly, but when i try to install another version of it, it always says “A newer Version Is Already Installed” Please help!

That script would be nice to have ; )