Windows 7 Host - Fusion Shared Folders Problem

[geschinger]

In VMWare Fusion shared folders eventually show as disconnected even though they can still be browsed.  But eventually the mapping will be recreated using the next letter up.  I.e. I might have a Z: - Shared Folders \\vmware-host, a Y: - Shared Folders \\vmware=host etc... where all our browsable alhtough four show the red x.

I also have a problem with Outlook opening up attachements to Mac applications which I also think may be related.  When I try to open an attachment where a MAC application is default, I get the following error:

Any suggestion on how I would go about fixing this?

Thanks,

GE

[billh0415]

I have exactly the same problem. Running a Windows 7 Pro VM on Fusion 3.1.2. Have shared folders turned on, with mirroing for Mac 'Documents' to Windows 'My Documents'. I can access all files in My Documents in Windows (all of which are stored on my Mac Book Pro under 'Documents'), but I can't open Outlook attachments that use Media Player. I can open MS Office attachments just fine. Originally, I couldn't open media documents from Windows explorer, but since I switched to mirrored folders for My Documents, that prolem seems to be solved. I have had as many as 17 drives mapped to \\vmware-host, all with a red X. When I right click on the mapped drive and click Disconnect, I get a dialog that says 'This network connection does not exist.' If I reboot Windows, I get a clean mapped drive for about 10 minutes, or until I launch Outlook. Eventually, I get the dreaded red X. I have searched for a solution for this problem for several months, and have tried many suggestions, including turning off autodisconnect for network drives in the Windows registry, to no avail. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[geschinger]

One other thing I noticed is that even when a VMWare instance is not actively booted up (and when it is) I will see vmnet.natd often pegging the CPU.  I'm wondering if that could be the root cause.

[billh0415]

I can't say that I've checked vmnet.natd often, but I have not seen it using excessive CPU cycles.

[AMcCreath]

I have a similar issue whereby I can use my VM without issue, but as soon as I open My Documents (shared folder with Mac) the whole thing hangs. I can't open or browse anything (almost anything - I can get to the main folder and occassionly the next level of folders)

In the end I have to power off the VM - cpu is always at 100% explorer.exe

Drastic action today was to rebuild a new Win7 VM, install office 2010 and reshare the folders... but the same thing happened!

Any ideas??

[billh0415]

I’ve tried reinstalling Fusion and VMware Tools, but not building a new VM, without success. I have not had the problem with access to folders except with Windows Media Player.

[mikedallas]

I am having the exact same problem......runnning Win7 32-bit over Fusion, and the shared folder mapping as viewed within Windows Explorer begins mapped as Z, then Y, then X.....I got up to J then shut everything down, including OS X, and it began all over again.  No idea what's happening.....I just installed Fusion for the first time a week ago.

I did only notice the problem today, which corresponded to moving over ESET NOD 32 antivirus from another machine and installing on the VM.  Unsure if this is coincidence or not.

Thanks,

Mikedallas

[billh0415]

I use Norton Internet Security 2011, and have NIS on my VM from the start last year so I don’t suspect antivirus as the issue, but you never know. I can report that my problem seems to be gone today. I recently did a Repair Disk and Repair Permissions using Disk Utility from the Snow Leopard install disk. I have to do this periodically (every 4-6 weeks) as my MacBook Pro locks up (spinning wheel of death runs forever). The disk problems are always Invalid Volume Count and Invalid File Count. At this point, there is no way to be sure if that cleared up the problem or some other random event, or it the problem will return at some point.

Regards,

Billh0415

[billh0415]

I have now been running for a month without the problem of multiple instances of shared folders recurring. My one vmware shared folder still shows a red x, but it no longer causes a problem for me. I mirrored my Documents folder on my MacBook Pro, and its files now show up in MyDocuments in Windows 7. Applications, including Windows Media Player, can access the files every time, so I can play Outlook email attachment files with Media Player just by double clicking. I'm happy, but not satisfied. The vmware shared folder should be a consistent connection.

[billh0415]

While I am generally a big fan of VMWare, I regrettably have decided to use a different virtualization platform to run Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro. I was just spending too much time on a recurring set of problems.

[zhiyuanzhou]

Hi billh0415,

  I'm interested with which virtualization platform are you using instead of VMware fusion?

[blsomogy]

This problem didn't appear for me until I upgraded VMWare to 3.1.3 the other week (was running 3.1.2 with same VM and not seeing the issue).  It started happening for my WIndows 7 x64 VM.

I managed to resolve the issue through a series of steps, but I'm not sure which of them was the real fix:

1) uninstalled VMWare tools, reinstalled VMWare tools (allowed windows to rediscover all devices and reboot after uninstall before reinstall).

2) disabled shared folders (did not delete shared folder entry, just disabled the feature for the VM), shut down VM, shutdown VMWare, rebooted Mac, started VMWare,  re-enabled shared folders, then booted VM.

After these steps, I'm no longer getting the disconnected drive letter phenomenon.  Let me know if this fixes anyone elses issue (just curious).

[mikedallas]

Interesting new data points regarding this long standing issue/bug with shared folders, as I re-initiated a support request in last month. The responses I received from VMWare were very disappointing:

• As background, despite the widespread nature of this issue, the response I have continually received is that the bug is "noted" and that it will be fixed "in a future release".
• I was advised in this last support request that A FIX HAS BEEN DEVELOPED!  So I asked, when will V3.x users see this fix, and why weren't we advised of this proactively?  Answer, not sure, it will be in a future release.
• Now currently Fusion 4 has been announced; my best indication (though VMWare won't definitively respond) is that V3.x users will never see their problem addressed, without forking out upgrade fees.  I'm 100% behind upgrading for a new improved feature set if one requires such, but being held hostage for a bug fix within existing functionality in V3.x leaves me with a very poor customer experience, to say the least.  This is akin to buying a car, and having the dealer advise "we can't fix the brakes on your car, but we have a newer model available for sale that has working brakes, trust us". 
• Nice job of customer retention VMWare!