VMware Communities
HalNineThousand
Contributor
Contributor

Cannot Share Clipboard Data Between Host and VM

My host is OS X 10.11.5 and I'm running Windows XP in a VM on VMWare Fusion 7.  I have a long standing frustrating that I really need to fix.  I can't get them to share clipboard data.  I found this article about using Mac keyboard shortcuts within the VM, but that's about it.  I've tried enabling the use of Mac keyboard shortcuts within the VM.  If I do that on the Mac profile or the "Profile" profile (apparently the default one upon install) and try either command-V or ctrl-V, nothing happens.  The url on my Mac clipboard is not pasted in.

I've run into this before and always just given up, but I really need to get this working.

Are there other settings I need to change?  Whenever I search for anything on sharing the clipboard, I always get hits about the keyboard shortcuts and that's it.

Tags (1)
Reply
0 Kudos
6 Replies
vmxmr
Expert
Expert

Copy/Cut and Paste works for me with Windows XP in VMware Fusion 8.1.1 with OS X 10.11.5 El Capitan on my host computer. It worked for me under Fusion 7, too, but I was not running Fusion 7 under OS X El Capitan. I suggest that you try this:


  • Uninstall VMware Tools from within Windows XP.
    • Open Control Panel from the Start menu
    • Double-click Add or Remove Programs
    • Select VMware Tools from the list.
    • Click the Remove button.
  • Reboot the Windows XP virtual machine
  • Install VMware Tools
    • From the VMware Fusion "Virtual Machine" menu, choose Install VMware Tools
    • The virtual CD will mount and the Windows installer will run to install VMware Tools.
    • Follow the prompts. A "Typical" installation should be fine.
  • Reboot the Windows XP virtual machine again.
  • See if this fixes your problem.

If it doesn't work, please note that VMware Fusion 7 is not officially supported for your El Capitan host computer. When VMware Fusion 8 was released, "El Capitan support" was one of the features that VMware advertised.

I hope this helps.

Reply
0 Kudos
dnhlms
Contributor
Contributor

I am using Fusion 8 and have the same problem.  I can't reinstall the Tools because the menu option is greyed out.  The guest OS is Windows 7.  I have confirmed the other settings are enabled.  Preferences in Fusion and the Settings in the VM.

I am stuck and this is really a pain point.

Reply
0 Kudos
Rob_Ha
Contributor
Contributor

Make sure your Windows 7 VM is powered on before you try to upgrade your vmware tools.

you may need to uninstall vmware tools from add remove programs if it is still grayed out then reboot and try again.

Reply
0 Kudos
dnhlms
Contributor
Contributor

The install vmware tools was greyed out.  Turns out i didn't have CD/DVD device connected with this VM.  Once i created that device in the settings and restarted i was able to install the tools.

Copy and paste between host and guest is now working.

Reply
0 Kudos
HalNineThousand
Contributor
Contributor

Just adding a note here: I have not abandon this question and I'm not ignoring it.  I've been slammed with much more work than I expected and am trying to finish all the requirements for a building permit for our new house, so I'm sidetracked with that for now.  I will be going through answers and following their directions so I can get this fixed.  I'm leaving this as a tab on Chrome so I'm reminded of it.  I hope to be able to test this out in the next week or two, but I want to wait until I know I'll have time in case I do something wrong and have to experiment with it.

Thank you.

Reply
0 Kudos
mini2008
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi,

Welcome to Fusion forum~

Suggest to reinstall VMware Tools firstly, here are steps: uninstall VMware Tools, reboot OS, install VMware Tools, reboot OS again.

Hope helpful.

Reply
0 Kudos