Scan for VM wizard - Match folder hierarchy not work properly.

[darksidemaze]

Evaluating Workstation Pro 16 and I've found the win10 File, Scan for Virtual Machine Wizard is ignoring some folder hierarchy if its the 4th subfolder or greater from the Edit, Preferences, Default Location for Virtual Machines: C:\Users\[name]\OneDrive\Documents\Virtual Machines.

Is this a bug that others can confirm? What is the procedure for reporting bugs in VMware? Not used it since ESXi 6.5 days and things have changed around here. 😀

[darksidemaze]

It doesnt make any difference whether the Default Location for Virtual Machines is

C:\Users\[name]\OneDrive\Documents\Virtual Machines

C:\Users\[name]\Documents\Virtual Machines

Edit

Did notice that despite not using OneDrive, WorkstationPro automatically changed the Default Location for Virtual Machines when I changed the reg entries in Regedit:Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

[wila]

Hi,

FYI, it is not a good idea to put VM's under onedrive.

This is known to cause data corruption.

for ex.
https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/VM-disk-gets-corrupted-randomly-Buffer-I-O-...

Using OneDrive in the VM itself OTOH is fine.

edit: You can draw attention to bugs down here, but it is not an official bug report. This forum is for peer to peer support.
For reporting bugs you have to open a ticket ( https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/get-help )
That by itself though requires you to still have support for Workstation (by default it is only 30 days) as otherwise you can't open a ticket.

--
Wil

[darksidemaze]

@ wila FYI, I did not do it. 

I've been having to correct it in the registry Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

M$ wants control of the spyware we purchase.

Just like I have had no say over what version of Win10 is running on this machine. Linux gets more appealing everyday.

[wila]

Hi,

You didn't say what you changed under the User Shell Folder entry.

There's a number of settings down there that affect many applications..
Eg. the "Personal" entry is the "My Documents" location and as that's what VMware probably checks for its default.. if you change that.. it might also change the default location.
Was this set by OneDrive?

I don't think that VMware uses those registry settings directly, but instead goes via one of the several available Windows API calls that give these defaults. Those API calls however probably still query these registry settings (they should).

Btw, I would have expected that Workstation would respect the setting under Edit -> Preferences -> Workspace -> "Default location for virtual machines".

Sorry still no answer for your original question I'm afraid.

--
Wil

[darksidemaze]

Every key in that reg entry node which referenced onedrive, is what I changed.

>Btw, I would have expected that Workstation would respect the setting under Edit -> Preferences -> Workspace -> "Default location for virtual machines".

I think (Workstation/Player)16 picks up what ever is in the registry. I change a reg entry, save it, load Vmware it picks up the reg changes, so probably an onload event.

Some VMware coder probably thought 3 levels of iteration was enough. As a coder myself, we are all guilty of those mistakes. 🙂

Edit: my ideal is to have one drive as a separate entity not automatically mirroring my documents, pictures, and every other desktop CIDL folder. Bit wary after catching DropBox accessing folders it shouldnt be accessing in its early days. 

[wila]

Hi,

What I expected as behavior would be that Workstation (or Player) would only use the Windows API for determining the initial default value of the folder, so basically on first start.

re. how many levels deep logic. Yeah, you're probably right. We developers are guilty of that kind of reasoning. Like "certainly there isn't a person who has a last name of just one character".. well...

It could have been recursive logic, but that can bite you too if you make a little mistake.
It seems like it might be a design decision.

re. OneDrive, I don't use it myself, but have customers who do. It's not a bad product, but I'm not a fan of the one size fits all approach.

--
Wil