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AdrianSantamari
Contributor
Contributor

Folder sharing problem. Corrupted files. Files don't update/sync. HGFS.

Hi,

I'm angry.

I've been trying to solve a problem for weeks on my virtual server, the problem was driving me mad when I realised it was a problem of VMware. I've lost a lot of time with this.

I'm using VMware Fusion 6.0.2 on Mac OS X 10.9.

I have a shared folder between my Mac and my virtual server which runs Ubuntu Server 12.04.3 LTS.

Files are not getting properly updated on the virtual server, sometimes there are no changes, sometimes they are corrupted.

So, Steve Goddard, for when the solution? Why is this happening? I'm waiting. We are waiting.


--

Adrián Santamaría

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19 Replies
continuum
Immortal
Immortal

What do you want to do ?
A: troubleshoot VMware shared folders
B: share files between host and guest

If you just want to share files between host and guest in a reliable and predictable way then use standard tools like NFS or SAMBA.

Troubleshooting problems with shared folders is in my experience not worth the effort.
All versions so far had obscure/hidden bugs so even if you finmd a fix for thios version and your current scenario they may not work after an update.

SAMBA and NFS shared folders are reliable and predictable - and existing bugs are documented - so dont waste your time.

Yes - VMware shared folders are more convenient - so I usually recommend to try that feature and use it until you run into problems. Then setup something that is known to work


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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AdrianSantamari
Contributor
Contributor

There is a bug somewhere that needs to be fixed and has to do with hgfs shared folders.

I'm not the only one having this problem and VMware knows about this since months already.

I don't want to spend more time in setting up NFS or whatever. I want this to be fixed or a solution from VMware.

Thanks

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crapougnax
Contributor
Contributor

I'm backing your complaint.

I was perfectly happy running VMware Fusion 5.0 on my Mac, sharing files with a virtual Debian server for two years without any problem.

I stupidly paid for an upgrade and now I can't work as expected and i'm losing time and my patience.

Silly me.

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steve_goddard
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi guys,

I am sorry you are running into this problem too. I am actively trying to fix this issue now.

As I have posted in other threads, my sincerest apologies for this not being caught. It was broken by changes to fixing caching issues within the VM when concurrent handles are open to a file.

Also as I have posted elsewhere, these changes didn't go into 6.0.1 and you can try downgrading to the VMWare Tools 6.0.1, with the download from https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/vmw-desktop/fusion/6.0.1/1331545/packages/

Please be careful, remember once removing the 6.0.2 tools reboot the VM to ensure the kernel driver (vmhgfs) has been removed and is not running.

Install the relevant package from the link above and I hope you should be able to continue as before.

If this doesn't work for some reason, I would like to know but it should be fine as no-one mentioned this bug from the 6.0.1 tools (which only had very minimal changes to the driver). Also you can try and use the sshfs FUSE file system to mount your host files too which might be simpler than NFS or SAMBA. However, 6.0.1 should be fine.

Steve

Thanks. Steve
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AdrianSantamari
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for the answer Steve.

I did what you said and the problem persisted.

Here's exactly how I proceeded:

1) I uninstalled the VMware tools with sudo vmware-uninstall-tools.pl

2) Rebooted. Did sudo apt-get auto remove just in case. Also system is completely update

3) Checked that shared folders where not showing up. Ok.

4) Downloaded the tools from the page you posted.

5) Mounted de ISO on the cdrom drive of the virtual machine.

6) Mounted the cdrom drive with sudo mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

7) Checked the files of /mnt/cdrom with the command ls => files ... VMwareTools-9.6.0-1294478.tar.gz ... more files .. Ok.

😎 Checked /tmp dir with the command ls. Only a folder called hsperfdata_adrian. Ok.

9) Copied the and extracted the compressed file to /tmp with sudo tar xzvf /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-9.6.0-1294478.tar.gz -C /tmp/

10) Checked /tmp dir with the command ls. 2 folders; hsperfdata_adrian and vmware-tools-distrib. Ok.

11) cd to /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib. ls => bin doc etc FILES INSTALL installer lib vmware-install.pl . Ok.

12) Installed the tools with sudo ./vmware-install.pl , everything default and Ok.

13) Rebooted.

14) Shared folders not working. Checked /mnt/hgfs => empty

15) Suddenly message appears: 'Starting Virtual Printing daemon: done

16) Shared folders working.

17) Shared folder problem persists.

18) sudo poweroff

19) Closed VMware.

20) Opened VMware.

21) Started Virtual machine.

22) Checked.. And yes, same problem as before with the shared folders.

23) Run command sudo vmware-toolbox-cmd -v , => 9.6.1.27366 (build-1378637)

Something's wrong. I did all that twice because it wasn't working the first time and obtained the same results.

I still have the same problem. Files only appear to update themselves on the virtual machine when adding a byte.

What now?

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steve_goddard
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Looks like it didn're rally downgrade the tools version should be

Can you check the VM .vmx file setting:

tools.upgrade.policy = "manual"

If it is set to autoupgrade it will override what you just did back to the 6.0.2 tools.

You should see the build-1294478 in the vmware-toolbox-cmd output.

Sorry I forgot about the upgrade policy setting. I think it is getting in the way here.

Steve

Thanks. Steve
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AdrianSantamari
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks, the problem is now solved.

For those using OS X here's a tutorial that explains how to edit the .vmx file:

VMware KB: Editing the .vmx file for your VMware Fusion virtual machine

Affected users should get a discount on VMware Fusion. Solving this was a real pain in the ass.

--

Adrián Santamaría

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paulatlettuce
Contributor
Contributor

Hey Steve,

What's the status on this issue?

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steve_goddard
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi there,

Sorry for the delays here.

I am finishing off my tests and everything looks good so far.

I am now expecting to be able to check fixes in now over the next day or so.

Then it will getting them out in tools release updates. That part I cannot say when it will be unfortunately as it is company policy as dates and fixes move around into various updates depending on lots and lots of different variables.

Steve

Thanks. Steve
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Jensenen
Contributor
Contributor

I wish I've read this thread before buying a license 🙂

This bug is affecting me too, hopefully the fix will get released soon.

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steve_goddard
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

This is now fixed and will be out in the next release of VMware Tools.


So please check and try out the new release when you see it available.

Note, I am not allowed to say when that is exactly as it is VMware policy.

However, it should not be very long.

Thanks again for everyone's help and patience.

Steve

Thanks. Steve
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lemiant
Contributor
Contributor

I'm running Windows 7 as a host with an Ubuntu 12.04 guest.

I have followed all of the instructions on this and other threads and have (finally) successfully downgraded to 6.0.1. The output of vmware-toolbox-cmd -v is:

9.6.0.26048 (build-1294478)

So I'm pretty sure I've got the right version. However I am still getting problems...

When I make one character changes in my file sometimes it doesn't transfer to the guest and sometimes it deletes the last character in file.

This is incredibly frustrating, what do I do now??

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steve_goddard
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

This should be fixed in the next release of tools that is due out soon.

Until that, can you try to umount the /mnt/hgfs in the Ubuntu VM, then do your edit in the Windows 7 host, and when finished mount it again and verify the file?
For example at the terminal window command shell issue the following (without the quotes)

"sudo umount /mnt/hgfs"

and then

"sudo mount -t vmhgfs .host:/ /mnt/hgfs"

obviously no need for sudo if you are running as root user.

However, what application are you using on the Windows host to edit the file and what application are you using to read the changed file in the Ubuntu 12.04 VM?

I can at least verify myself that the issue is then fixed for you and there isn't another corner case.

Steve

Thanks. Steve
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lemiant
Contributor
Contributor

I've just switched the box over to virtualbox, so I'm fine now. As far as the problem goes, when I unmount and remount it would fix itself. The file was open in Brackets Editor on Windows and it was being viewed on the Linux guest by either WinSCP over scp or by the node.js process.

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jithu83
Contributor
Contributor

I am also struggling with this issue on Mac. The edits done on my host mac are not getting reflected in the guest ubuntu.

I would like to know when this update will be ready.

[ Also in the meantime - please provide steps to downgrade  the tools version in a bit more detail so that i won't ht this issue. I couldn't  understand how to do this]

My current version is :

root@mininet-vm:/mnt/hgfs/mount/wow# vmware-toolbox-cmd -v

9.6.1.27366 (build-1378637)

// I don't see tools.upgrade.policy = in my vmx file (while trying to downgrade as per the instructions in the thread)

I see only the following

toolscripts.afterpoweron = "true"

toolscripts.afterresume = "true"

toolscripts.beforepoweroff = "true"

toolscripts.beforesuspend = "true"

tools.syncTime = "FALSE"

isolation.tools.hgfs.disable = "FALSE"

toolsInstallManager.updateCounter = "9"

tools.remindInstall = "FALSE"

Thanks

Jithu

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

FWIW, VMware Workstation 10.0.2 has been released and it has fixes in the shared folders area, see also:

VMware Workstation 10.0.2 Release Notes

Download is available from here:

Download VMware Workstation 10.0

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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jithu83
Contributor
Contributor

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steve_goddard
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

The Fusion 6.0.3 has the same fixes in as the WS 10.0.2 and is released.

Thanks

Steve

Thanks. Steve
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toyzrme
Contributor
Contributor

It appears the problem was never fixed, or has regressed, at least on some platforms.

I'm on Windows 10 x64 host, Player 12.1.0 build-3272444, and a Windows 10 x64 guest (VMWare Tools 10.0.5.build-3228253), and I'm having the same problems.

I try to keep my host as clean as possible, only sharing files, and do my work in VMs, using Shared Folders. But if I edit Shared Folder files in the guest (mp3 tag editing, file renaming), and then view them -+on the host, sometimes the files on the host have changed, sometimes not. If I change the files on the host, sometimes the guest VM overlays its' old values over the changes made on the host.

About the only way around this that seems to work (not 100% convinced yet) is to SHUT DOWN THE GUEST - which is completely unacceptable.

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