Shared folders not accessible

[davegaff]

I have a host running Windows XP Pro with VMWare Workstation 6 and a guest running Windows 2003 R2 Standard Edition. This guest is in a team and is using the team LAN (i.e. on its own network). When I setup a shared folder I don't see it available in my guest. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

Dave

[Aldebaran]

Do you have VMware tools installed in the guest? If so, would you please post your guest .vmx file?

Jeff

[davegaff]

Thank you for the reply.

Yes, I installed the latest version of VMWare tools prior to posting.

Here is the contents of my .vmx file:

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "4"

scsi0.present = "TRUE"

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"

memsize = "1024"

scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"

scsi0:0.fileName = "Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition-000004.vmdk"

ide1:0.present = "TRUE"

ide1:0.fileName = "D:"

ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

floppy0.present = "FALSE"

Ethernet0.present = "TRUE"

displayName = "Windows 2003 Guest"

guestOS = "winnetstandard"

priority.grabbed = "normal"

priority.ungrabbed = "normal"

ide1:0.autodetect = "FALSE"

scsi0:0.redo = ""

ide1:0.startConnected = "FALSE"

ethernet0.addressType = "generated"

uuid.location = "56 4d 2f 07 80 63 00 d6-76 cb 45 a2 ea 0c d9 32"

uuid.bios = "56 4d 2f 07 80 63 00 d6-76 cb 45 a2 ea 0c d9 32"

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:0c:d9:32"

ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

tools.syncTime = "FALSE"

Ethernet0.startConnected = "TRUE"

virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"

tools.upgrade.policy = "manual"

numvcpus = "2"

isolation.tools.hgfs.disable = "TRUE"

checkpoint.vmState.readOnly = "FALSE"

checkpoint.vmState = ""

inVMTeam = "TRUE"

sharedFolder.option = "alwaysEnabled"

sharedFolder.maxNum = "1"

ethernet0.connectionType = "pvn"

ethernet0.pvnID = "52 96 48 35 aa a6 b5 13-97 11 f5 6b a2 c4 f6 f6"

sharedFolder0.present = "TRUE"

sharedFolder0.enabled = "TRUE"

sharedFolder0.readAccess = "TRUE"

sharedFolder0.writeAccess = "TRUE"

sharedFolder0.hostPath = "E:\VMWareShared"

sharedFolder0.guestName = "VMWareShared"

sharedFolder0.expiration = "never"

[Aldebaran]

Dave,

Try setting this to false.

isolation.tools.hgfs.disable = "TRUE"

Jeff

[davegaff]

I changed the setting above and still didn't work. I am trying to view my shared folder through My Network Places and I don't see a "VMWare Shared Folders" under Entire Network.

[RDPetruska]

You probably will not. Just type
.host\[i]sharename[/i] in the address bar of Explorer in your guest.

[davegaff]

I tried that and get an error that windows cannot find '
.host\VMWareShared'.

[Aldebaran]

I think you need to put "Shared Folders" in the path:

.host\Shared Folders\VMWareShared

and try browsing to
.host.

Jeff

[davegaff]

I tried both

.host\Shared Folders\VMWareShared

and

.host

Neither worked. Does this have something to do with the fact that I'm not using bridged networking (I'm using a Team LAN segment)?

[TSR801]

I have the same problem but with a different setup. I have a host running Windows XP Pro with VMWare Player 2.0 and a guest running Windows XP Pro. The guest is using the default bridging mode. I've used VMXBuilder to build the .vmx file and made sure to include the shared folder options. But I've never been able to browse to
.host via UNC on the Run command line or under "My Network Places". The Server and Computer Browser services are running and I can browse to other network places, just not the ".
host\Shared Folders" location.

I can't figure this out either. And I am running the latest tools inside the guest. I can use the USB 2.0 and other features just fine. Only the Shared Folders features eludes me.

My .vmx file looks like this:

#######################################

\####### Desktop.vmx

#######

\#### generated by VMX Builder RDP/UH ##

\####### identity/general ##############

displayName = "Patron Desktop 3.6"

\# Platform = Player

\# Version = 2.x

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "6"

guestOS = "winxppro"

workingDir = ""

nvram = "New VM.nvram"

numvcpus ="1"

memsize = "512"

\####### ide-controllers ###############

ide0.present = "TRUE"

ide1.present = "TRUE"

\####### ide-disks #####################

ide0:0.present = "TRUE"

ide0:0.fileName = "Windows XP Professional.vmdk"

ide0:0.mode = "persistent"

ide0:0.deviceType = "disk"

ide0:1.present = "FALSE"

ide1:0.present = "TRUE"

ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"

ide1:0.autodetect = "TRUE"

ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"

ide1:0.exclusive = "FALSE"

ide1:1.present = "FALSE"

\####### scsi-controllers ##############

scsi0.present = "TRUE"

scsi0.virtualDev = "buslogic"

\####### scsi-disks ####################

scsi0:0.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:1.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:2.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:3.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:4.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:5.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:6.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:8.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:9.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:10.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:11.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:12.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:13.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:14.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:15.present = "FALSE"

\####### nics ##########################

ethernet0.present = "TRUE"

ethernet0.startConnected = "TRUE"

ethernet0.virtualDev = "vlance"

ethernet0.connectionType = "bridged"

ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet0"

ethernet0.addressType = "generated"

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:b0:b0:8f"

ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"

\####### sound #########################

sound.present = "TRUE"

sound.startConnected = "TRUE"

sound.virtualDev = "es1371"

sound.fileName = "-1"

sound.autodetect = "TRUE"

\####### usb ###########################

usb.present = "TRUE"

usb.generic.autoconnect = "TRUE"

ehci.present = "TRUE"

\####### floppies ######################

floppy0.present = "TRUE"

floppy0.startConnected = "TRUE"

floppy0.fileType = "device"

floppy0.fileName = "auto detect"

floppy0.autodetect = "TRUE"

\####### display #######################

svga.autodetect = "FALSE"

svga.numDisplays = "1"

svga.maxWidth = "2360"

svga.maxHeight = "1770"

svga.vramSize = "16777216"

mks.enable3d = "FALSE"

\####### mouse/keyboard ################

vmmouse.present = "TRUE"

\####### advanced stuff ################

mks.keyboardFilter = "off"

gui.powerOnAtStartup = "FALSE"

gui.fullScreenAtPowerOn = "FALSE"

gui.exitAtPowerOff = "FALSE"

chipset.useAcpiBattery = "FALSE"

chipset.useApmBattery = "FALSE"

powerType.powerOff = "hard"

powerType.powerOn = "hard"

powerType.suspend = "hard"

powerType.reset = "hard"

toolScripts.afterPowerOn = "FALSE"

toolScripts.afterResume = "FALSE"

toolScripts.beforeSuspend = "FALSE"

toolScripts.beforePowerOff = "FALSE"

sharedFolder.option = "alwaysEnabled"

sharedFolder.maxNum = "1"

sharedFolder0.present = "TRUE"

sharedFolder0.Enabled = "TRUE"

sharedFolder0.readAccess = "TRUE"

sharedFolder0.writeAccess = "TRUE"

sharedFolder0.hostPath = "D:\Temp"

sharedFolder0.guestName = "Host_DDrive"

sharedFolder0.expiration = "never"

snapshot.disabled = "FALSE"

snapshot.Action = "keep"

replay.logging = "FALSE"

isolation.tools.dnd.disable = "FALSE"

isolation.tools.paste.disable = "FALSE"

isolation.tools.copy.disable = "FALSE"

tools.syncTime = "TRUE"

tools.remindInstall = "FALSE"

tools.upgrade.policy = "manual"

RemoteDisplay.vnc.enabled = "FALSE"

RemoteDisplay.vnc.port = "5900"

applianceView.enabled = "FALSE"

applianceView.showAtPowerOn = "FALSE"

applianceView.coverPage.name = ""

applianceView.coverPage.version = ""

applianceView.coverPage.author = ""

applianceView.coverPage.text = ""

applianceView.coverPage.logo = ""

priority.grabbed = "normal"

priority.ungrabbed = "normal"

debug = "FALSE"

disable_acceleration = "FALSE"

MemTrimRate = "30"

logging = "TRUE"

monitor_control.log_vmsample = "FALSE"

templateVM = "FALSE"

mainMem.useNamedFile = "TRUE"

monitor = "release"

vmi.enabled = "FALSE"

\##### other params from old file ######

ide0:0.redo = ""

uuid.location = "56 4d ca 65 6c 7e 69 ac-6f 38 d8 30 03 b0 b0 8f"

uuid.bios = "56 4d ca 65 6c 7e 69 ac-6f 38 d8 30 03 b0 b0 8f"

virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"

extendedConfigFile = "Desktop.vmxf"

\####### end of file ###################

scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "16"

ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "17"

sound.pciSlotNumber = "18"

ehci.pciSlotNumber = "19"

checkpoint.vmState = ""

isolation.tools.hgfs.disable = "FALSE"

Message was edited by:

TSR801

[Paul_Higgins]

I'm not sure if your paths had typos or not, so I tried disconnecting and reconnecting my shared folders from the command line. (I'm running Debian Linux as host and Win2K as guest.)

I dropped the connection with:

net use Z: /d

I checked connections with:

net use

I reconnected with:

net use Z: "
.host\Shared Folders" /persistent:yes

(Note "
.host", not ".
host".)

[TSR801]

Paul,

Oops! I messed that up when I typed that. I have been using "
.host\Shared Folders" to try to connect to the share. Here's the exact command I tried at the prompt:

C:\>net use x: "
.host\Shared Folders"

System error 59 has occurred.

An unexpected network error occurred.[/i]

Yet I'm able to connect to a Windows shared folder just fine:

C:\>net use x:
TestPC\Temp

The command completed successfully.[/i]

The reason I want to use VMWare Shared Folders (as opposed to Windows sharing) is so I can easily set up a guest desktop with a shared folder included for some users I support. From what it looks like, shared VMWare folders don't depend on the host folder's security settings, so using that system I could have an already-mapped drive to the share in the desktop, making it much easier for the users.

The question is how to get VMWare Shared Folders to work. I used VMWare Server to create the virtual image/desktop. Could this be the problem? I am using Player 2.0 to use the guest desktop, though, and I've upgraded the guest's tools to the latest version.

Any help would be greatly appreciated by me, and I'm sure by Dave, too!

[davegaff]

I've also verified my syntax, which is correct.

[RDPetruska]

Well, your syntax should be

"
.host\Host_DDrive" I think.

[TSR801]

I tried that, too, but ended up with the same error. And there's no "VMWare Shared Folders" I can browse to, either. Under "My Network Places-->Entire Network" all I see is:

Microsoft Terminal Services

Microsoft Windows Network

NetWare Services

Web Client Network

Is it a problem that Novell Client is on the guest?

[TSR801 · Accepted solution]

I finally figured it out! Here's what I discovered:

I upgraded the VMWare Tools to the latest version. This was what caused the problem. The older version that was being upgraded didn't install the HGFS (virtual file sharing) system because it didn't even support it. As a result, the upgrade process didn't install HGFS either, because it was only upgrading installed pieces. Since the HGFS was never originally an installed piece it didn't exist to be upgraded!

So I solved the issue by removing the tools, rebooting, and re-installing the tools (build 45731). This installed every piece needed, included HGFS.

How I found out that HGFS wasn't originally installed is by spending a lot of time doing searches and reading previously posted messages in the forums. I discovered this from one of the messages about "horrendously slow shared folder access"...

Unfortunately, LanmanWorkstation also takes a very long time to timeout, which makes the first access to any share take forever (because LanmanWorkstation must time out, and only then does the HGFS provider get to run). Note that this should only affect share discovery, not file transfers.

For WS6, we worked around this by installing the HGFS provider at the top of the list. Check out HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order to see what I mean.[/i]

Link: http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=36915&start=20&tstart=0

...That led me to check this registry key on my VM and, just as I thought, HGFS wasn't even listed. After more checking and reading through part of the Workstation 6 manual I found out what's installed during the VMWare Tools installation on page 112:

�� A set of VMware device drivers. These drivers include:

�� SVGA display driver that provides high display resolution and significantly

faster overall graphics performance.

�� The vmxnet networking driver for some guest operating systems.

�� BusLogic SCSI driver for some guest operating systems.

�� VMware mouse driver.

�� A kernel module for handling shared folders, called hgfs.sys on Windows

and vmhgfs on Linux and Solaris.[/b]

I then realized what must have happened--the HGFS driver wasn't even installed. So I removed the tools and re-installed them.

Now it works perfectly! I can access the shared folder using any previously-mentioned manner, including UNC path (
.host\Shared Folders), the 'net use' command and under "My Network Places>Entire Network>VMWare Shared Folders". It works right and it works fast!

Hope this helps you, Dave, and anyone else with this issue!

[TSR801]

One more thing:

I now know that if the VMWare file sharing driver (HGFS.SYS) is installed correctly the .sys file will be in the usual drivers folder on the HD. Also, the service will NOT exist in the list of services under Computer Management. But it DOES exist in the registry under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\hgfs[/i].

If this doesn't exist in your guest's registry it's not installed correctly and won't work. Use what I believe is the second-most common troubleshooting action (next to rebooting)--remove and re-install the application (in this case the tools)!

[davegaff]

I uninstalled and then reinstalled the latest version of VMWare tools and this fixed my problem as well. You're correct, just installing the latest version didn't fix this.

Thanks!!

[alemex]

good finding TSR801 !!!

Uninstalling VMWare Tools then reinstall them did the trick !

[TimATTEWODE]

THANK YOU FOR SHARING.  I'M A NOVICE WHEN IT COMES TO REMOVING FILES AND REINSTALLING THEM.  WOULD YOU BE SO KIND AS TO WALK ME THROUGH STEP BY STEP?

THANK YOU,

TIM

AttewodeEnterprises@gmail.com