Shared folder Windows 8 / Ubuntu

[keke2]

Workstation 8.0.6

Windows 8 64-bit host/ Ubuntu 13.10 64-bit guest

I have never used Linux before but I built a Linux virtual machine which is working fine but I can not get a Shared folder working.

I mapped the shared drive just as I have done for Windows guests and there are no complaints. However when in the Ubuntu file manager the shared folder is nowhere to be found.

Does anyone have a suggestion for what the problem might be.

Thank you.

[Scorpion99]

You can try using command shells as mentioned in the following link :

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/How%20to%20Create%20a%20Network%20Share%20Via%20Samba%20Via%20CLI%...

[WoodyZ]

What kernel are you running?  Have you applied any of the third-party patches that might address this issue?

Have a look at: VMware Workstation 10.0.1 build-1379776 patch for Linux kernel 3.13 & VMware Workstation 10.0.1 build-1379776 patch for Linux kernel 3.14.0

[keke2]

Thank you for your suggestion Scorpion99. Being new to the Linux world I have never heard of Samba. I'll read-up on it. Looking at the link you provided, I'm probably wrong about this but it looked like it was creating a share on the Ubuntu machine. I need need the Ubuntu machine to see the hard drive of the host (Windows).

[keke2]

WoodyZ, the kernel is 3.11.0-19-generic. I looked at the 2 links you provided and I don't know enough to know if they would address my issue or not.

[keke2]

It seems that the Ubuntu machine has the ability to see a Windows network but when Files manager and navigate to the Windows network there is nothing visible so I wonder if it is just a configuration issue or if it is even possible for the Ubuntu guest to see the hard drive on the Windows host?

Thanks again for your input!

[WoodyZ]

I missed it when you said "Workstation 8.0.6", sorry, however the latest release of Ubuntu as a Guest OS officially supported with that version of VMware Workstation 8.0.6 is Ubuntu 12.10.  So anything not working with VMware Tools like Shared Folders will require a third-party patch and the ones I linked to are for Linux Hosts running VMware Workstation 10.0.1 not the version and Host OS you're running, sorry.

I'd look at implementing a SMB/CIFS Share in Windows (standard Windows File Sharing) and accessing it via Samba in Linux as Scorpion99 suggested.

[WoodyZ]

keke2 wrote: It seems that the Ubuntu machine has the ability to see a Windows network but when Files manager and navigate to the Windows network there is nothing visible

Have you shared a folder via Windows, not VMware Shared Folders?

so I wonder if it is just a configuration issue or if it is even possible for the Ubuntu guest to see the hard drive on the Windows host?

Yes it possible!

[keke2]

I've found that VMWare tools is not properly installed. Running the vmware tools install tries to install "VMware Host-Guest Filesystem" but then there is a problem where the message is "The path "" is not a valid path to the 3.11.0-19-generic kernel headers". I have tried a couple of solutions for this from discussions but have not been able to resolve it. Does anyone know how to fix this?

[WoodyZ]

You need to make sure that gcc, binutils, make and the kernel sources for your running kernel are installed and then running the following command in a Terminal:

sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r)/include/generated/uapi/linux/version.h /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r)/include/linux/version.h

Then try installing VMware Tools

[keke2]

Thanks for your help Woodyz. Since the version of Ubuntu I'm using is not supported in the version of VMWare I have and I don't want to spend money on this yet I'll put this on the back burner for now.