How to share folders between host and VM?

[Clamsalot]

I've gotten the VN up and running and now I just want to share folders. It says to use Microsoft remote pc but the vm has a mac address.

[RDPetruska]

Don't try and use the Shared Folders feature.  Just use bog-standard SAMBA/CIFS file sharing.

[Clamsalot]

What is that? I have never seen those words at all. Please send me that information.

[Clamsalot]

Help me I am so lost. I'm using Win11 VM.

[ColoradoMarmot]

You have to use regular windows file sharing and connect to the virtual machine from the mac as if it was a windows PC.  Without VMWare tools, there's none of the traditional file sharing currently available.

VMWare has hinted that better support may be coming in the next preview release expected later this month.

[Technogeezer]

This is Windows networking 101.

To configure windows (SMB) file sharing on your Mac, you need to use the Sharing preference panel, enable File Sharing, configure the folders you wish to share, and then click "Options" and make sure Windows file sharing is enabled for your Mac account.

Then you can access the share from Windows - using \\<IP address of Mac>

The other alternative is to log into the Windows VM using an RDP client such as Microsoft Remote Desktop on the Mac, and using the RDP client's folder re-direction capabilities.

Or, as @ColoradoMarmot notes, be patient as we might see something from VMware if their hints are correct.

[Clamsalot]

Thank you, it worked.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Make sure you turn sharing back off if you're going to be on an untrusted network.

[LVGandhi]

I am also running win11arm in tech preview vm.

Can you kindly explain step by step how to go about to succeed in snaring files/folders between guest and host?

[Technogeezer]

The macOS user guide bundled with your computer describes how to let users share files from to your Mac from a Windows computer.

From the Finder menu bar, click "Help", then "macOS Help".

Once the help viewer opens to the macOS User Guide, enter "Windows file sharing" in the search bar in the upper right. That will get you here:

Select "Share Mac files with Windows users". If using your Mac's username and password to gain access to shared folders from your Windows VM, you do not need to create an additional username.

[ColoradoMarmot]

You can't using Fusion shared folders.  That does not work without VMWare Tools.  You'll need to use regular windows file sharing.

[LVGandhi]

I went through that help file. after sharing done in  Mac. In windows I enabled file sharing in control panel network. Then in explorer, I tried map my network drive with address shown in Mac as smb://10.0.0.47. I get msg windows cannot access smb://10.0.0.47. I have enabled connect using different credentials along with reconnect at signin.