another issue with vmware tools occasionally showing up as “not running”. i’ve definitely pinpointed an issue with vmware tools 5.5u1. i’d recommend not installing this version if it can be avoided. the windows event log listed event id 16001 – “a TDI filter (\driver\vnetflt) was detected. this filter has not been certified by microsoft and may cause system instability.” a google of that revealed the following post: https://communities.vmware.com/thread/464467

the post describes that there’s an issue with the vshield endpoint driver in vmware tools 5.5u1. the issue can be resolved by uninstalling vmware tools and reinstalling but choosing a typical install instead of complete -or- by doing a change on the vmware tools msi and removing the vshield driver.

i have used the change method and am awaiting the results. at this point i’m unsure whether this affects windows server releases other than 2012.

update 2/25/2015:
i’ve encountered a somewhat similar issue with a windows 2008 r2 domain controller…not the same exact problem, but it was still resolved by removing the vshield driver (which is now named the VMCI driver – guest introspection drivers). this particular DC would become unresponsive after a nightly scheduled system state backup. the 5.5u2 version of vmware tools did not resolve the issue which makes me think there is something with the 5.5 release’s vshield driver that simply does not get along with domain controllers.

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