RE:
"re. VMwareUser.exe not being started, it appears that the filename for this has changed with Fusion 5.
On my Windows 7 virtual machine down here I see 2 vmtoolsd.exe started and I also verified that I can indeed do a DnD to the OSX desktop from a normal file.
One of them runs as my named user and the other one runs as SYSTEM.
Both of these need to be running."
Welcome back, Wila. If your question has to do with Windows Task Manager, I do find VMTools running as a service but no VMware-related items in either the Applications or Processes tabs.
Attached is a snapshot of what's in the Registry location asked about.