The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5) - Drag and Drop using VMware

Drag and Drop using VMware - aaaargh!! Please Help

Hi:

I have recently installed VMWare Workstation 4 on my local PC.

My host OS is Win XP (Pro) and my guest OS is Lunux (Read Hat 7.2).

I would llike to transfer files from my host OS to my guest OS - VMWare says this can be easily accomplished with 'drag and drop'. Please see http://www.vmware.com/support/ws4/doc/running_dragdrop_html.html

Where do I drag and drop the files to?

This is really bugging me and ruining a perfectly beautiful rainy Saturday morning in the pacific north-west.

Am I a complete dolt that I dont understand the instruct6ions? The manual says it is easy to do - but, unless I am a complete buffoon, it does not say which destination folder I can 'drag and drop'file to.

Techno-phobe
Saturday, December 13, 2003

I wouldn't use the word dolt, but the link you provided says:
"With the drag and drop features of VMware Workstation 4, you can move files easily between a *Windows* host and a *Windows* virtual machine".

I usually use network drives to transfer files anyway.

Joe
Saturday, December 13, 2003

How is it best to transfer files?

Can you explain it in simple terms? I am pretty much a novice in this.

Thanks

Techno-phobe
Saturday, December 13, 2003

I do things the other way round - Linux host, various windows guests.

Filesharing can be accomplished via samba (www.samba.org) - setup a share on the host and install the samba client on the guest.

blargle
Saturday, December 13, 2003

And even then, if they are both windows, it is probably only going to work if you install VMWare Tools on the guest VM....

Michael H. Pryor (fogcreek)
Saturday, December 13, 2003

I think Michael Pryor is correct that VMWare tools is needed for drag & drop between Windows host & guest OS.

But not necessary for file sharing using a network share. You just need to share a directory on your host OS and have client s/w on Linux guest that connects to it (don't know much about Linux but it seems you can find the client S/W for Linux at www.samba.org as suggested by Blargle if you don't already haved it).

Joe
Sunday, December 14, 2003

Normally you just set up a drive that both Windows and Linux can use (which to play safe will be FAT32 on a local machine and anything on a network drive).

Stephen Jones
Sunday, December 14, 2003

Why would you not install VMware tools, though? VMs are painful without it, not the least of which because the video drivers is contained in it.

Brad Wilson (dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com)
Sunday, December 14, 2003

Oh, and I just tested this with Virtual PC 2004. No problem Windows to Windows drag and drop. Hadn't even considered that it might work. Nice.

I used to be a huge VMware fan, until I actually used Virtual PC. It's so much faster than VMware, and I can actually use a Virtual PC for my development work, thereby basically nuking the re-pave that occurred every 3-6 months!

Brad Wilson (dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com)
Sunday, December 14, 2003

Maybe Virtual PC is faster than VMware (I'm not sure, and I think that a statical virtual hd can help with speed...), but anyway, Micro$oft doesn't supply any integration tools (such as VMware does with VMware tools) for a linux client, does it ???

Gaëtan Charpentier
Thursday, June 3, 2004