How to get rid of the VMware error when starting Visual Studio 2012, but without disabling VMDebugger add-in?

Question

I am getting the following error when starting Visual Studio 2012 as unprivileged user:

An error has occurred while trying to access the log file. Logging may not function properly.

A casual web search showed that the issue used to exist with VMware 6 beta, back in 2006. I also found one other user who experiences the same in a more recent VS version (2008) and it started only recently.

The title of the message box indicates that this comes from VMware. I have VMware 9 Workstation installed. The problem could be related to system updates or the update 2012.2 CTP and hasn't gone with the final 2012.2 update package.

The question:

How can I get rid of the error without actually disabling the VMDebugger add-in?

Temporary workaround:

There is a workaround, disabling VMDebugger in the "Add-in Manager". However, it even seems that unprivileged users are unable to successfully disable it. I had to start VS as admin (I am using SuRun for the purpose) to disable it and the error not reappearing upon next start of the IDE.

Answer 1

I had the exact same problem, this is how I solved it.

I monitored devenv.exe using procmon to find the log path, on my computer it was: %TEMP%\vmware-username

I checked the permissions on the log directory, and discovered that my user had no access - neither read nor write! I gave myself full access and deleted the old log files. That solved it for me.

I think this happened because UAC was disabled when I installed VS and VMware.

Answer 2

In Visual Studio, go to the menubar to VMWARE / About VMWare Virtual Debugger; the Debugger log file will be listed there, e.g. C:\Users\Phil\AppData\Local\Temp\vmware-Phil\vmware-vsid-1.log Give your user full access to that file. (This solution was for Visual Studio 2013, VMware Workstation 11.1.2, Windows 8.1.)

Answer 3

The fastest and easiest way to solve is...
1. Locate the folder %temp%\vmware-{username}
2. Delete this folder. The folder will be created by opening the Visual Studio.

Note: You need to open the Visual Studio without admin rights to resolve the issue!

Background: Mostly this happens if you use the VMware debugger plugin the first time under admin rights (because your app may need this right to run properly). This creates the folder under admin rights with the admin permissions. Everytime you open the Visual Studio with admin rights, you have no problems.

Answer 4

Examples

Windows: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp\vmware-<username>-<PID>.log

Linux: /tmp/vmware-<username>/ui-<PID>.log

Answer 5

This post helped me

The fastest and easiest way to solve is... 1. Locate the folder %temp%\vmware-{username}

Answer 6

Go in windows+R %temp% , delete all , ready !