VMWare tools ESX4 for Windows 7 x64

 I originally posted this article on the VMWare Communities site back on May 27, 2009.

While checking out the new Windows 7 release from Microsoft I couldn't seem to get the VMWare tools to install and it kept generating the error:

"Error: 25030. Setup failed to load a kernel driver (vmrawdsk)"

At that point it would roll back the install. 

Hoping for some help I posted a question on the site but managed to solve my own problem before I got a reply. The fix was:

When the Windows 7 VM was provisioned I didn't notice that it only gave itself 4MB of video RAM.

Once I changed the setting to 128MB (the max) I was able to install the VMWare tools with no issues. Still no 3D support but otherwise working.

Also, and I don't know if this is important or not. I did the install when accessing the console through the Tomcat web access, instead of through the regular console access.

So my settings:

Guest OS- Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit) (experimental), Video Memory 128mb, CPU's 4 (Q6600 chip), RAM 1GB (I can make it 2GB)

Anyone else install it?

Another member listed his fix also:

"I noticed that it does not require to change the display RAM. In my case i changed my resolution from 800x600 to 1024x768. I then again tried installing VMware tools from From Virtual machine menu and installation went pretty smooth."

Update 15 Oct 2009. Over 2046 people have visited the link.