vmware workstation vmhgfs mount / Shared Folders with host

Does anyone have step by step instructions for setting up Shared Folders on vmware using Turnkey Linux LAMP? or TKL Core?

Here is what I tried, but without any luck:

1. In VMware went to Virtual Machine Settings -> Options -> Shared Folders
Checked off "Always enabled"
Created a share named hostshare pointing to C:\hostshare

2. Restarted the VM in VMware workstation

3. ran hgfsclient, and I see the name of the shared folder I just created

# /usr/bin/vmware-hgfsclient

hostshare

4. Mounting -- no luck:

    # mount -t vmhgfs .host:/hostshare /mnt/hostshare

Error: cannot mount filesystem: No such device

Any suggestions? Can anyone provide step by step instructions?

Replies (7)

Took the CIFS direction

Reply 1 2011-06-27

I ended up taking another route for sharing host folders on my TKL VM. I document the process at the link below... but still feel a bit dissatisfied that the desired path did not work.

Step by step instructions for using CIFS on TKL VM to share folders on vmware (would probably work on virtualbox too)

http://techdad.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/vmware-and-turnkeylinux-mount-shared-folders-from-windows7-host-to-ubuntu-guest/

Sorry didn't post sooner.

Reply 2 2011-06-27

I actually thought I posted here this morning. I was in a bit of a rush though so perhaps just 'previewed'.

I don't even recall exactly what I was going to post, but it was something along the lines of checking that the hgfs module was loaded into the kernel (use lsmod command with grep to filter/limit the results). And also suggest that you tried just mounting ./host/ which should theoretically mount all shared folders from the host to the specified directory.

And I was going to mention worst case scenario, try Samba! But looks like you beat me to it. Thanks too for posting the how-to. For interest sake, TKL have a Webmin Samba module in their repo too, so for TKL appliances you can also apt-get install webmin-samba which allows for really easy configuration of shares.

Out of interest, the VMware tools should be preinstalled when using the VM (zip) images supplied by TKL. I would expect the VMware shared folders feature to work OOTB and if it doesn't it'd be good to try and work out why. Also Ubuntu have an open source version of VMware tools in their repo so even for ISO installed images you should be able to apt-get install open-vm-tools (or something similar - do an apt-cache search to check the exact name).

Yes Linux is case sensative

Reply 3 2011-09-01

As you've worked out. Although AFAIK it's actually the filesystem itself not something that is inherently Linux. So in theory if using a Win FS such as NTFS it's not case sensative - although I can't 100% confirm that.

Actually I just tested it on my Netbook (runs Bodhi Linux - based on Ubuntu) and for files stored on the FAT SD card I have test.txt is the same as TEST.txt (it actually won't even let me change the case of the filename, complains 'file already exists').

If you are using TKL VM image then it should be installed

Reply 4 2012-10-22

I haven't used any VMware products for some time, but TKL VM images have the VMware tools preinstalled (or at least they used to).

An update guide on how to map shared folder using VMware

Reply 5 2015-09-14

Hello,

Recently I came across this situation and I needed to map VMware share folders on the guest TKL. After doing a lot of googling and put peaces together I came up with this straight forward guide...

http://unrevealingbox.blogspot.com.es/2015/09/how-to-mount-vmware-shares-on-turnkey.html

I hope it help new TKL comers. ;-)

I had the same problem. This

Reply 6 2016-11-17

I had the same problem. This pacth works for me: https://xpressubuntu.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/resolving-no-shared-folders-with-vmware-player-7-and-ubuntu-15-04-guest/comment-page-1/#comment-708

Apparently it should work fine when added to fstab?!

Reply 7 2020-03-18

AFAIK, if you can get it to work manually, then if you add the appropriate line to your fstab, then it should "just work".

Are you seeing a bootup error message of any sort? What does your fstab line look like? According to the VMware docs and seconded via a post on an openvm-tools issue; your fstab line should look like this:

vmhgfs-fuse    /mnt/hgfs    fuse    defaults,allow_other    0    0

(Where /mnt/hgfs is your local mount point, and it already exists).

The docs also note an alternate fstab layout, so perhaps try that if the above doesn't work? It may also be worth reading further through the issue thread too?