The Parameter /v passes the string provided to the msi installer included in the.exe, alternatively you can use /a to extract the installer et voilá you have a plain .msi package.

"REBOOT=ReallySuppress" does exactly what it suggests, the properties "*_SHORTCUTS" toggle if the respective shortcuts are created or not, but don't ask me about "ALLUSERS=2"...

What we don't know, but would really like to, is how you can activate Shared Folders by default (without user intervention). Any clues?

I do not object the idea of Shared Folders being disabled by default, I just think there should be a way to override this default (with administrative rights and in the configuration of VMware Player, not in the .vmx) and even if you insist on the user having to explicitly allow Shared Folders, I think it would be convenient if the dialog warning about Shared Folders being defined but not active would also present an option to activate them.

Anyway you're definitely not the one to blame but maybe some VMware guy reads this and gets my point...

By the way, I just found out that you can drag'n'drop files between the VM and the host, that feature is probably even better in our use case, but with large files and files constantly being swapped between host and vm it might turn out to be slow, cumbersome and memory intensive.