VMware Communities
user_0110
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Clipboard sharing won't work between Windows 10 Host and Guest.

Can anyone help me with the issue where I am not able to share clipboard between Windows 10 Pro (both Guest and Host) while using the same Host Machine, clipboard works fine on Windows 7 and 8. I’ve tried everything like:

  • Uninstall VMware Tools, Reboot, Install and Reboot.
  • Manually add entries to the VMX file for clipboard.
  • Tried VMware Workstation and Player both.
  • Created New VMs and imported the existing virtual HDD.
  • Updated VMware from v15.x to latest v16

Windows versions are same for Windows 10 both Host and Guest and all VMs are for testing purpose only. None of them is shared or deployed.

1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
bonnie201110141
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
Jump to solution

Hi,

Will you please enable tools log in your guest operating system as below?

1. Create a folder maybe on your desktop in your guest os to store the tools log. Let 's say C:\users\${USER}\desktop\toolsLog.

2. Added below line in your C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Tools\tools.conf (Create the file if not exist) in your guest os

[logging]

log = true

# Enable tools service logging to a file.

vmtoolsd.level = debug

vmtoolsd.handler = file

vmtoolsd.data = C:/users/${USER}/desktop/toolsLog/vmtoolsd.${USER}.log

# Enable 'vmsvc' service logging to a file.

vmsvc.level = debug

vmsvc.handler = file

vmsvc.data = C:/users/${USER}/desktop/toolsLog/vmsvc.log

# Enable 'dndcp' service logging to a file.

dndcp.level = debug

dndcp.handler = file

dndcp.data = C:/users/${USER}/desktop/toolsLog/dndcp.log

# Enable new "vmusr" service logging to a file.

vmusr.level = debug

vmusr.handler = file

vmusr.data = C:/users/${USER}/desktop/toolsLog/vmusr.${USER}.log

3. restart the guest and reproduce the issue

4. Send us the logs in C:/users/${USER}/desktop/toolsLog

View solution in original post

4 Replies
bonnie201110141
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
Jump to solution

Hi,

Will you please enable tools log in your guest operating system as below?

1. Create a folder maybe on your desktop in your guest os to store the tools log. Let 's say C:\users\${USER}\desktop\toolsLog.

2. Added below line in your C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Tools\tools.conf (Create the file if not exist) in your guest os

[logging]

log = true

# Enable tools service logging to a file.

vmtoolsd.level = debug

vmtoolsd.handler = file

vmtoolsd.data = C:/users/${USER}/desktop/toolsLog/vmtoolsd.${USER}.log

# Enable 'vmsvc' service logging to a file.

vmsvc.level = debug

vmsvc.handler = file

vmsvc.data = C:/users/${USER}/desktop/toolsLog/vmsvc.log

# Enable 'dndcp' service logging to a file.

dndcp.level = debug

dndcp.handler = file

dndcp.data = C:/users/${USER}/desktop/toolsLog/dndcp.log

# Enable new "vmusr" service logging to a file.

vmusr.level = debug

vmusr.handler = file

vmusr.data = C:/users/${USER}/desktop/toolsLog/vmusr.${USER}.log

3. restart the guest and reproduce the issue

4. Send us the logs in C:/users/${USER}/desktop/toolsLog

user_0110
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Hello, bonnie201110141

Unfortunately, there is no such log files even though I added above lines to tools.conf file. Searching for the culprit, I've found something unusual. The "VMware Tools Core Service" is disabling by itself every time I boot the Guest OS. I've restarted the service multiple times and then to verify changes, restart Guest OS but again it gets disabled. Any reason why? I don't rely on AntiVirus but to be on the safe side, I ran Windows Security in Guest Machine and found nothing. Disabled other services and apps on startup, and again - Clipboard is not working. Furthermore, no folders are shared from Host to Guest. I'm providing you with the tools.conf file content as-is, please check if I'm doing something wrong.

log = true

vmtoolsd.level = debug

vmtoolsd.handler = file

vmtoolsd.data = C:/Users/User/Desktop/LogData/vmtoolsd.log

vmsvc.level = debug

vmsvc.handler = file

vmsvc.data = C:/Users/User/Desktop/LogData/vmsvc.log

dndcp.level = debug

dndcp.handler = file

dndcp.data = C:/Users/User/Desktop/LogData/dndcp.log

vmusr.level = debug

vmusr.handler = file

vmusr.data = C:/Users/User/Desktop/LogData/vmusr.log

Reply
0 Kudos
bonnie201110141
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
Jump to solution

Hi user_0110,

In your VM, from task manager, are there two "vmtoolsd" processes running? For your tools.conf file, I think you need to add [logging] at beginning of the file.

user_0110
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Thank you all for your help bonnie201110141​ and user_0110

For you question, NO! Only one instance is running of vmtoolsd.

The issue resolved all by itself and Clipboard sharing is working now and also the "VMware Tools Core Service" is enabled. Might be some other services were causing it to be stopped but again Thanks for your time. I don't know what was causing all these but since it is working now. So, I'll mark it Answered.

Furthermore, I am going to report this to VMware Support to find the bug and resolve it.

Reply
0 Kudos