Share disk space between Mac host and Ubuntu guest

[TorstenRobitzki]

Hello,

I've setup a virtual machine on using VMWare Fusion (Professional Version 12.1.2 (17964953)) running on macOS 11.5.2. I've installed Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS. open-vm-tools and open-vm-tools-desktop are installed on the guest OS. I'm able to copy & paste from and to the guest, so I guess, that basic support for interacting is installed and running.

However, when I try to share some parts of either the hosts or the guests disk space, I fail. When I open the VMs shared setting dialog ("Gemeinsame Nutzung"), I see the hint, that "shared folders are not available in the virtual machine, as long as the VMWare tools are not installed and is not running" (Translate from the german message: "Freigegebene Ordner sind in der virtuellen Maschine nicht verfügbar, solange VMware Tools nicht installiert ist und ausgeführt wird.").

The option "VMWare Tools reinstall" is disabled from the VMs menu.

What do I have to do to be able to share disk space between host and guest?

best regards and thanks in advance,

Torsten

[scott28tt]

You could treat the 2 OSes as if they were both physical?

If so, you could using file sharing (eg. NFS), file transfer/copy (eg. SCP) or cloud-based file storage (eg. OneDrive, Google Drive)

[TorstenRobitzki]

Sure, that would be a last resort, if file sharing is impossible. I wonder if there is anything, I could do to analyze, why it is not working as advertised.

[wila · Accepted solution]

Hi,

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Tools/11.3/rn/VMware-Tools-1130-Release-Notes.html

VMware Tools Issues in VMware Workstation or Fusion

Shared Folders mount is unavailable on Linux VM. If the Shared Folders feature is enabled on a Linux VM while it is powered off, the shared folders mount is not available on restart.

Note: This issue is applicable to VMware Tools running on Workstation and Fusion.

Workaround:

If the VM is powered on, disable and enable the Shared Folders feature from the interface. For resolving the issue permanently, edit /etc/fstab and add an entry to mount the Shared Folders automatically on boot.

For example, add the line:

vmhgfs-fuse   /mnt/hgfs    fuse    defaults,allow_other    0    0

also see:

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/74650

Good luck!

--
Wil

[TorstenRobitzki]

Thanks, that did the trick! 🙂