ESXi 6.5 - VMware tools 10.3 BSOD issue with Windows 2012 and higher with hardware version 13

Windows 2012 and higher versions with VMware tools 10.3X version with hardware version 13 (and of-course running on 6.5 ESXi) are pron to a BSOD issue

I got the same results when I tested it my lab.

BSOD would say "bad_pool_caller".

VMware this morning released KB recalling whole 10.3 family of tools. Check below links

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/57796
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Tools/10.3/rn/vmware-tools-1030-release-notes.html

Recommendation is to remove it completely and install last stable build, which is 10.2.5

Windows Firewall, SQL Windows Authentication, Connection Timeout Expired. The timeout period elapsed while attempting to consume the pre-login handshake acknowledgement.

Connection Timeout Expired. The timeout period elapsed while attempting to consume the pre-login handshake acknowledgement.

1) Use FQDN on the DB Server Instead of IP. If server is not domain based, then add a host entry in ETC\Hosts file and then use the same instead of IP

If that doesn't work, additionally try below

1) Open Windows Firewall on SQL Server and add a rule to unblock inbound port 1433
2) Enable IPV6 in NIC properties of SQL Server.

Set Windows Server 2012 Network Location / Public or Private

Use below PowerShell commands

Get the list of network profile

Get-NetConnectionProfile

 

Change the network interface to private or Public

Set-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceIndex <IndexNumber> -NetworkCategory <Private/Public>

 

 

 Example

PS C:\> Get-NetConnectionProfile

Name             : Network
InterfaceAlias   : Ethernet
InterfaceIndex   : 12
NetworkCategory  : Public
IPv4Connectivity : LocalNetwork
IPv6Connectivity : NoTraffic

PS C:\> Get-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceIndex 12 -NetworkCategory Private

 

.NET Framework 3.5 installation error: 0x800F0906, 0x800F081F, 0x800F0907

.NET Framework 3.5 installation error: 0x800F0906, 0x800F081F, 0x800F0907 on Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2

Below method uses DISM with no Internet connectivity

1) Mount appropriate OS DVD. 

Assuming that the OS DVD is mounted on to D:\, run below command to install the component, picking up source files from DVD.

2) dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /Source:D:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess

 

 

Logoff remote desktop sessions remotly via command line

Below method works if you can establish the required rights on the remote server.
 

1) Check who is connected / look for a in-active session

 quser /server:<ServerName/IP>

*** This command is the same as the query user command.  

C:>quser /server:ServerABC

USERNAME           SESSIONNAME         ID   STATE   IDLE TIME  LOGON TIME
 Norm                                  12   Disc        none   03/02/2015 20:51
 Firman             ica-tcp#69          1   Active          .  03/03/2015 08:15

Or we can also use 

qwinsta /server:<ServerName/IP>

C:>qwinsta /server:ServerABC
 SESSIONNAME       USERNAME                 ID  STATE     TYPE        DEVICE
 ica-tcp                                   65536  Listen  wdica
 rdp-tcp                                   65537  Listen  rdpwd
 ica-tcp#69          Norm                   12    Disc    wdica
 console             Firman                 1     Active  wdcon

From the above results, I see that Norm has a disconnected session, which I can probably end. Or I can also kill Firman's active session.

2) Once I have session name or session ID, I can use "LogOff" command or "RWInsta"

C:>logoff /?
Terminates a session.
LOGOFF [sessionname | sessionid] [/SERVER:servername] [/V]
C:>RWinsta /?
Reset the session subsytem hardware and software to known initial values.
RESET SESSION {sessionname | sessionid} [/SERVER:servername] [/V] 

In the above case, I would like to kill Norm’s session, which is Disconnected. So I use below command.  12 is the session ID noted. 

logoff /server:ServerABC 12 /v
Logging off session ID 1

Or

 

RWinsta /Server:ServerABC 12

Thanks,

R.H