VMWare 5.1 Tools RPC receive loop
UPDATE: VMWare has posted a patch shortly after I blogged about this. I have not tried this patch yet, but it appears to correct this problem, thanks to s7s for the heads up.
I encountered a new error recently with the latest version on the VMWare tools. On one of my Windows 2008 R2 servers, I had thousands of Event 1000
[warning] [vmuser:vmusr] Error in the RPC receive loop: RpcIn: Unable to send.
Of course, my first inclination was to search the knowledge base and forums for anyone else that had/has this issue. VMWare has posted KB Article 2036350 that provides a workaround to this issue. VMWare claims is a known issue and provides a workaround for your usage, the workaround is to disable logging within the VMTools until a fix is issued. In putting the workaround in place, it seems that I could not find the tools.conf file that the Error level needs to be changed in, and it appears this is another bug where installing/upgrading the VMTools does not create the tools.conf file.
Like I said, I was using Windows 2008 R2, so the file should be located under C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Tools. In my testing procedure, I determined that the RPC errors mentioned above seem to be cause by the tools configuration missing from the server, once you put the configuration in place and restart the VMTools service, all seems to be well.
Below are the contents of the tools.conf file, all you need to do is copy this and paste it into a text file, rename/save it as tools.conf and put the file in the correct location. Once the file is in place, restart the VMTools service.
tools.conf contents:
[logging] log = true # Enable tools service logging to vmware.log vmsvc.level = debug vmsvc.handler = vmx # Enable new "vmusr" service logging to vmware.log vmusr.level = error vmusr.handler = vmx # Enable "Volume Shadow Copy" service logging to vmware.log vmvss.level = debug vmvss.handler = vmx
tools.conf file location:
Windows 2000, XP, and 2003:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Tools\tools.conf
Windows Vista, 7, 2008, and 2012:
C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Tools\tools.conf
I do not know if this works in linux as well, but I do not see why it wouldn’t.
I hope this corrects the issue you are reading this for and you can go about your day and have cake …..
Leave a Reply
17 years in the IT industry, email migrations, email architect, network engineering, VMware,etc...
I also like long walks on the beach, fluffy animals, and the good kind of toilet paper.
<CR>.<CR> 
Thanks, this finally took care of the problem on our Xen servers.
Worked like a charm. Thank you!
I’m resolved same problem by means of this update: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&externalId=2035778
thanks worked
Hello,
Thanks for the Tip!
BTW, it’s also working for an other issue of the same kind :
[ warning] [vmsvc:vmsvc] Unable to retrieve hardware address or ifIndex = xxxxxxx
This one poped out after an upgrade from ESX 4.1 to ESXI 5.1 on a 2003 R2 W/ RAS Role
Cheers*
Thank you ,
it helped me a lot .
Dudes. Why not just uninstall VMTools on the guest then reinstall? Works a treat.
Well, I know for me, VMware Tools typically recommends a reboot after a tools install, and if you are experiencing this on a production server, I have to schedule reboots well in advance, so correcting the file and restarting the service is less intrusive than uninstalling/reinstalling the tools. Also, I find it interesting that people are still finding this article when an update was supposed to correct the issue.
Thanks for the post this works well. Not all of us work in perfect VMware environments where we have the capacity and time to upgrade to VMware 5.1 Update 1 (in an ideal world, that would be the best resolution to this problem). Thank you for the great work around!
Is this a workaround or a fix for the documented error. In creating the tools.conf file are we disabling error reporting? I want to fix the error but if it would be better to patch the hosts I can look into scheduling downtime.
Thank
Michael
It is indeed a workaround and since there is a patch/update that corrects this issue, I would do this until you can schedule a change window to update the tools. That is, unless you can quickly schedule downtime.
FYI: I was trying this fix and after restarting the VM Tools service a VMware Tools installer window briefly flashed up and then it rebooted my server without giving me an option to defer. (My production server at 10:30am in the morning on a weekday no less.)
Many thanks for your help.
You made my day.
BR
Christoph
Thank you
worked like for me
Excellent help thank you very much I have been getting this every secound now its gone.
Thank You!! Quick and easy fix to my Error “[ warning] [vmusr:vmusr] Error in the RPC receive loop: RpcIn: Unable to send.”