Why VMWare Player missing the vmnetcfg.exe utility and where to get it?

vmnetcfg.exe is required when you want to configure multiple network interfaces (e.g. one local and one wireless) in the same machine.

But where is it?

UPDATE This question was originally for version 3.1.1 but apparently VMWare still hasn't fixed this, as recently as version 7.x. Updated answers are found below my original one.

Solution 1:

UPDATED: 8/22/2018

The VMware Player 14 doesn't contain vmnetcfg.exe. You need to extract it from the VMware Workstation 14 full version. The folder names and location of it has changed.

Firstly extract the MSI from the VMware-workstation-full-14*.exe:

1. Launch your .exe file.
2. When you see the first prompt do not click anything in this window and do not close it.
3. Open Windows Explorer, type %temp% in the address bar and press Enter.
4. Sort the files in the folder by the modification date. The newest file on the list should be the .msi file you are looking for.
5. Copy the MSI file to a safe location before you close the exe or window.

Secondly extract workstation.cab from this MSI using 7zip:

6. Right-click on the .MSI file and from the shortcut menu choose 7-Zip > Open Archive.
7. Extract Workstation.cab
8. Copy the vmnetcfg.exe and place into your VMware player installation folder. (C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player)

Solution 2:

A bug in the installer prevents the installation of the tool vmnetcfg.exe

Run setup again like this from Command Prompt (CMD):

VMware-player-3.1.1-282343.exe /e .\vmplayer

In vmplayer subdir you will find network.cab - extract it in explorer or 7zip, then find vmnetcfg.exe and copy to c:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player

I ran into this problem several times before and found the answer in some obscure forum. Figure I'd post the answer here for others and also for me in case I need it again :)

Solution 3:

Update (VMWare Player 12):

It's possible to extract vmnetcfg.exe from the VM Workstation installer using 7Zip File Manager.

1. Install 7Z (http://www.7-zip.org/a/7z1604-x64.exe)
2. Download VMWare Workstation Installer (something like VMware-workstation-full-12.5.2-4638234.exe)
3. Using 7z File Manager, open the installer (right-click, "open inside").
4. Now open Core.cab
5. There lies vmnetcfg.exe. Extract it to C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player