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theintestine
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"net use" command does not list hgfs drives

Mapped drives do not show up in "net use" if I map a drive to a hgfs share on the host.

I have tried using Explorer and the net command. Both map the drive correctly but I cannot see the results.

Example command:

net use z: "
.host\Shared Folders\Home"

Normally I wouldn't care, but I am trying to troubleshoot a problem in a product and their support is telling me this is the problem.

I have updated vmware tools (reinstalled). Guest is Windows Server 2003. Same happens on Windows XP 32bit and Linux 32/64bit hosts.

Tested on workstation 5.5 and 6.5

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Tim

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theintestine - Extracting goodness from crap for 20 years

theintestine - Extracting goodness from crap for 20 years
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RDPetruska
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That's because the VMware Shared Folders feature does not use standard networking... it uses the backdoor.

If you want normal network file sharing functionality, just use standard Windows File Sharing / Samba.

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RDPetruska
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That's because the VMware Shared Folders feature does not use standard networking... it uses the backdoor.

If you want normal network file sharing functionality, just use standard Windows File Sharing / Samba.

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theintestine
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Does anyone know what the difference is? I need to express it somehow. Backdoor doesn't cover it.

Doesn't support locking... doesn't support X, etc.

Tim

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theintestine - Extracting goodness from crap for 20 years

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cdc1
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If you're looking for an explanation that you can pass to somebody else in an "official"-type capacity, I'd probably say something like:

HGFS allows access to files on the Host not through Windows File Sharing using network resources, but through VMware Tools loaded into the virtual machine, which provides an interface between Windows (or Linux, depending on the gues OS) file systems on the guest, and VMware Workstation and (in turn) filesystem access on the host.

Probably a much better way to word it, but that's the gist of what I'd use if it were me.

theintestine
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In case someone else needs a cogent explanation I am posting what I passed to another company's support:

What I have found is that, while vmware HGFS shares do show up in Windows Explorer under networks it does not in fact fully implement network file system operations. This can easily be shown by mapping a drive to a VMWare hgfs share (e.g. "
.host\shared folders\myshare") and then executing the command "net use" from the command prompt. "Net use" will not show the shared folder as a network share.

The product I was working with would give an error saying the file path could not be found.

The work around is to use a true network file system such as CIFS (Microsoft's network file sharing).

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theintestine - Extracting goodness from crap for 20 years

theintestine - Extracting goodness from crap for 20 years
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