Open file on Host using application installed in Guest

[ensoftrob]

Is it possible to associate filetypes on a VMware Workstation host with applications installed on a guest?

VMware Fusion for the Mac allows you to associate .doc, for example, with a copy of MS Word installed in a Windows guest. If you try to open a .doc file on the host, VMware Fusion starts up the appropriate VM (if it's not already started) and opens that file using the copy of MS Word installed on the guest. How do I configure VMware Workstation to do the same thing?

[RParker]

> MS Word installed on the guest. How do I configure VMware Workstation to do the same thing?

That's called application virtualization, and I don't think VM WS has that feature

[ensoftrob]

Strictly speaking, I don't think I'm talking about application virtualization, although the VMware Fusion feature that I referenced is very similar to application virtualization.

To clarify my earlier example under VMware Fusion: with Unity mode enabled,

the app

will open on the desktop of your host OS (just like application virtualization), but if you have Unity

disabled, VMware will bring the guest desktop window to the foreground and open the Word document in the guest.

[continuum]

you mean something like associate *.script extension so that "wipe-my-disk-virus.script" launched on the guest directly runs on the host ?

That is not implemented now and I hope it never will ...

I can see that your request may come useful in some scenarios ... but I guess that a VM could no longer be regarded as a safe sandbox if such channels between VM and Host were opened

___________________________________

VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[ensoftrob]

No, continuum, that's not at all what I'm saying. The application associated with the given filename extension runs on the VM, not on the host.

This feature is enabled by default on VMware Fusion for the Mac; but I don't have a Mac, so I paid twice as much for VMware Workstation in hopes of getting similar functionality. (I know; silly of me to think I can do the same thing on a Windows/Linux PC that my colleagues can do on a Mac, right?)

I imagine the underlying implementation associates the file with a VMware helper application on the host. The helper application transparently copies the file over to the VM, opens the file in the associated application on the VM, then copies the file back after the application terminates on the guest. It seems like it should be trivial to implement using the VMware API, but I don't want to reinvent the wheel if I just need to find the right configuration dialog.

Not that it should matter, but the hypothetical scenario I gave earlier (using MS Office on the guest to open/edit .doc, .xls, etc., files that physically reside on the host) is exactly the use-case I'm trying to satisfy. I have MS Office installed in a VM, but not on the host (I want the host to remain a minimal OS install). I'm already using shared folders, but I'd rather double-click on the files in the host than browse to them a second time on the guest anytime I want to open something.

[mdford]

You could probably set it up so that the host associates vmrun.exe with the file extension, then set the parameters (using runProgramInGuest) so that it executes the correct application inside of your guest. Note that this would still require you to set up a file share of some kind so that the guest application can directly access the file using the exact path name used on the host.

The only alternative would be to write an application that does the same, except transforming the host's path name to a UNC path to pass to vmrun.

[mdford]

I just looked at the other vmrun parameters, there are ways to copy the file to the guest. In this case, you should be able to write a script that creates a directory, copies the file to the guest, then runs the app inside the guest. Getting it back to the host after the app exists is still a problem though.

I would still prefer to have the guest operate directly on the host's file in this case.

[Schoem]

Hi ensoftrob,

this is so funny. I'm exactly in the same situation. I want to open files with an application not installed on my host, but on my guest OS.

This certainly makes perfect sense in a Mac environment (that's where I'm coming from) where you want to open files by simply double clicking them, even if the application isn't installed, OR the application simply doesn't exists for the Mac, say Microsoft OneNote.

I love that feature.

So now I'm in a Windows environment and exactly like you I don't want to clutter my host OS with rather unimportant applications, but I'd be happy to do that in a guest OS. Nevertheless rather than shifting files back and forth between host and guest, I'd really appreciate the convenience I get on a Mac FROM VMWare.

You've done it, guys. Why not doing it again on Windows for Windows??

It seems like there is a "not so user friendly" flag enabled on Windows, which keeps developers from implementing such things. OR the average Windows user is just not used to such convenience and thus accepts the fact that it works a little bit bulky.

In any case I'd recommend to move away from thinking about virtualisation (especially on a private maschine, not a server environment) ONLY as some sort of isolated sandbox. That makes sense in many cases, but in my opinion concealing the borders is a logical step during the process of defining future virtulisation strategies and possibilities. Unity already makes the UI experience quite fluid between host and guest, now there is just this little step of file accessability.

The original post is over 2 years old now, but still no improvement on that. Maybe it takes more peolpe coming from the Mac to Windows to build a critical mass ... wait, what?

Just my 2 cents.