Transfer files between two Windows machines, one running under VMware

Question

It may sound crazy, but I have Fedora 13 installed in my personal laptop and running Windows 7 using VMware. Now is there any way I can transfer files to it from my desktop running Windows XP?

Answer 1

There are answers to this question all over the web. If you were to Google share from host to guest vmware the first link contains the following which is probably what you are looking for.

Connecting to a Linux Host from a Windows Guest

If you want to share the directory /home/user/shared, for example, on a Linux host operating system with a Windows guest operating system, follow these steps:

1. On the Linux host operating system, copy the smb.conf file to a file called something like smb.conf.orig.
   • cd /etc/vmware/vmnet1/smb
   • cp smb.conf smb.conf.orig
2. Modify Samba on the Linux host system. Edit the following lines in:/etc/vmware/vmnet1/smb/smb.conf.
   • Comment out the line starting with interfaces=<IP addresses>.
   • Below this line, add interfaces=vmnet1 vmnet8.
   • Provide a network workgroup name. Set workgroup=<name>.
   • If you do not want to use the standard DNS name for the Linux system, set netbiosname=<Linux system name>.
   • You can leave security=user, unless you cannot connect, in which case use security=share.
   • Set encrypt passwords=yes.
   • In the [global] section, define a different shared memory access key. Add this line: sysv shm key=/dev/vmnet8.
   • For better performance, add this line:
     • socket options = TCP_NODELAY
     • edit the line to state:
     • socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
     • Note: This setting must be entered on one line.
   • To create the share, add the following:
     • [SHARE_NAME]
     • path = /home/user/shared
     • public = no
     • writable = yes
     • printable = no (since you want to share files, not a printer)
   • Save this file and create a backup copy to protect these changes when you upgrade VMware Workstation.

3. Restart the Samba services to load the new settings.

   • If VMware Workstation is running on the Linux host system, suspend or shut down all running virtual machines and close all VMware Workstation windows.
   • On the Linux host operating system, at a command prompt, type /etc/init.d/vmware restart
   • On some Linux distributions, the command is /etc/rc.d/init.d/vmware restart

   • Start VMware Workstation and run the Windows guest operating system from which you want to connect to the Linux host. The user ID you use to log in to the Windows guest must be in the Linux host's smbpasswd file. If you use the same user name and password to log in to the guest as you do on the Linux host, then you are not prompted to log in when you browse the Linux host.

   • If you are connecting to the Linux system from a Windows Me, Windows 98 or Windows 95 guest operating system, NetBEUI must be installed in the guest operating system before you can browse the file system. If you need to install NetBEUI, you may need your Windows installation CD-ROM.

   • When the system restarts, the Samba service does not appear in the list of services starting up, but it does start, unless an error appears.