One of the nice benefits of being a vExpert is the licenses kindly provided to various VMware apps including VMware Workstation. After receiving the codes this year and downloading the latest version, it should have been a simple process to install, right ? Dbl-Click, next, next, next…. ?
Moments after confirming the UPGRADE dialog, i was surprised to see a warning;
“The user did not accept the license agreement by passing EULAS_AGREED=1 on the command line”
It seemed unlikely that I was able to proceed without ticking the licence acceptance checkbox, but attempted again. This time I made sure I ran as Admin, scrolled tot he end of the EULA and ticked the box. Same message. Interesting.
Like many, I’ve had the pleasure of doing package deployments over the years so tried a full install via msiexec;
|
1 |
msiexec /i .\VMware-workstation-full-12.5.2-4638234.exe /QN /L* C:\temp\workchk.log EULAS_AGREED=1 |
The installer progressed to the same point, bombed and the failure message was shown again. Same result if I tried a Repair or even Uninstall from the Programs Applet in Control Panel.
A quick google showed nothing new, but the ever useful website of Vladan Seget unearthed the magic required !
https://www.vladan.fr/how-to-uninstall-completeley-a-vmware-product-if-the-uninstall-process-fails/
“If you are running the Workstation 5.x or 6.x installer. Run the installer command with the /c switch, which will automatically remove the MSI installer registration information for VMware Workstation.”
The /c switch nukes the MSI registration information for a Workstation install.
My VM’s are stored safely out of any working directories, and I renamed the existing directories in case any config was removed.
Away we go, accepting all the warnings.
One more time, again as admin and accepting the license.
Getting further this time…..
WIN, and we’re good to go.
Enjoy.