How do I set a shared folder as a local drive in Windows 10?

[X3nO]

Hello, How do I set a shared folder as a local drive in Windows 10? 

I have created a BootCamp virtual machine, I have 2 disks, the other is exFAT and is used in Windows to hold large programs, I shared this folder in VMware Fusion but the locations do not match. On Windows I have D:\PROGRAM_NAME and in VMware Z:\Files\PROGRAM_NAME. Is it possible to mount the disk so that it is normally usable?

[nancyz]

Hi @X3nO ,

You can add the sharing via Shared Folder by the following steps:

1.Install VMware Tools(It may require GOS restart after the installation).

2.Open VM settings via Virtual Machine menu

3.Click Sharing and then '+' button

4.Find the Disk(Files) you want to share and select it.

5.Access the files in VM via 'Open in Guest' button on sharing window or 'VMware Shared Folders' shortcut on the VM Desktop.

[X3nO]

@nancyz I understand, I have already done it, but the location of the installed files does not match. I want this shared folder to appear as a physical drive D:\ not Z:\(Disk Name)

[bluefirestorm]

You could try remapping the folder using the subst command from the Windows command line

subst M: Z:\Files

which substitures Z:\Files to be accessible as M: drive

EDIT: I used M: instead of D drive as it was changed into an emoji

[X3nO]

@bluefirestorm Thank you, it's almost working, can I still trick the system into making this network drive discoverable as local? Windows shows me the status of "disconnected network drive", so I cannot use key functions such as program installation or even updates. Another question is, I made a .bat script with this command and is there a way to automatically run it on boot only with VMware?

[bluefirestorm]

I don't know of a way to trick the network drive to appear as a local drive.

For the .bat you should be able to add it as part of startup. You could try the method specified in these links. The second link you have to scroll down to the bottom of the article. There are probably other ways to startup without requiring signon but that probably involves fiddling with the registry; you can search the net for that.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/change-which-apps-run-automatically-at-startup-in-window...
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-create-and-run-batch-file-windows-10

[bluefirestorm · Accepted solution]

An alternative to using Shared Folders is to create a raw disk out of the exFAT disk/partition. You then add the raw disk as another virtual disk into the VM.

The general idea is in this KB https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2097401

I don't know whether it still works. When I tried it some years it was with Fusion 8.x and I used it to install Windows 10 VM that had a external USB SSD (something like a BootCamp VM except it is on external SSD).

[X3nO]

Great!!! Works great, I can use the disk. I will check if the drives are mounting well at startup;) Thank you all for your help