How to uninstall vmware-tools-foundation

Question

So I am having lots of problems with this:

Warning: RPMDB altered outside of yum.
** Found 21 pre-existing rpmdb problem(s), 'yum check' output follows:
kmod-vmware-tools-vmci-9.5.13.0-2.6.32.71.el6.x86_64.5.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '8.6.0', None)
kmod-vmware-tools-vmxnet-2.0.15.0-2.6.32.71.el6.x86_64.5.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '8.6.0', None)
kmod-vmware-tools-vsock-9.5.6.0-2.6.32.71.el6.x86_64.5.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '8.6.0', None)
vmware-tools-core-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-esx-kmods-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-esx-nox-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-guestlib-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-libraries-nox-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-plugins-autoUpgrade-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-plugins-deployPkg-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-plugins-grabbitmqProxy-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-plugins-guestInfo-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-plugins-hgfsServer-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-plugins-powerOps-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-plugins-timeSync-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-plugins-vix-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-plugins-vmbackup-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-services-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '9.4.10', None)
vmware-tools-vmci-common-9.4.10-5.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '8.6.0', None)
vmware-tools-vmxnet-common-9.4.10-5.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '8.6.0', None)
vmware-tools-vsock-common-9.4.10-5.el6.x86_64 has missing requires of vmware-tools-foundation >= ('0', '8.6.0', None)

When I try to reinstall vmware-tools-foundation

sudo yum reinstall vmware-tools-foundation
Loaded plugins: product-id, security, subscription-manager
This system is receiving updates from Red Hat Subscription Management.
Setting up Reinstall Process
rhel-6-server-rpms                                                                                                                    | 3.7 kB     00:00     
No Match for argument: vmware-tools-foundation
Package(s) vmware-tools-foundation available, but not installed.
Error: Nothing to do

When I try installing it though I receive this message:

Total download size: 211 k
Installed size: 1.2 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
vmware-tools-foundation-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64.rpm                                                                                       | 211 kB     00:00     
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
Error in PREIN scriptlet in rpm package vmware-tools-foundation-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64

VMware Tools cannot install because it appears that another installation of
VMware Tools is already present. Please remove the previous installation and
then attempt to install this copy of VMware Tools again.

error: %pre(vmware-tools-foundation-0:9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64) scriptlet failed, exit status 1
error:   install: %pre scriptlet failed (2), skipping vmware-tools-foundation-0:9.4.10-1.el6
  Verifying  : vmware-tools-foundation-9.4.10-1.el6.x86_64                                                                                               1/1 

Failed:
  vmware-tools-foundation.x86_64 0:9.4.10-1.el6                                                                                                              

Complete!

I feel like I am going in circles here... any suggestions?

Solution

I ran into the same problem and finally i found a solution:

1. Remove all vmware packages that are installed via yum until yum list installed | grep vmware shows nothing:

   yum list installed | grep vmware
   yum remove vmware-tools-guestlib.x86_64
   yum remove vmware-...
   yum remove kmod-vmware-...
   ...
   

2. Remove files and folders found by "locate vmware". For me it was:

   rm -rf /usr/lib/vmware-tools
   rm -rf /etc/vmware-tools
   rm /etc/init/vmware-tools.conf
   rm /etc/ld.so.conf.d/vmware-tools-libraries.conf
   rm /etc/modprobe.d/vmware-tools.conf
   rm /etc/selinux/targeted/modules/active/modules/vmware.pp
   rm /etc/dracut.conf.d/vmware-tools.conf
   rm -f /usr/bin/vmware-*
   rm -f /usr/sbin/vmware-*
   rm -rf /usr/share/doc/vmware-*
   

3. Install vmware-tools-foundation as first package:

   yum install vmware-tools-foundation
   

4. And at last:

   yum install vmware-tools-esx-nox