While looking for a fix for the inability of VMware player 4.0.2 to get updated vmware tools (I was getting the error message “Could not find component on update server. Contact VMware Support or your system administrator.”), I found a workaround on the vmware community threads.
They say the issue will be fixed in a few days (this is the fifth day since I found the message, and 23 days since the “we’ll fix it” message was posted). Our fingers are crossed.