


Note: VMware has no option to share folders in bulk with all VMs, therefore, you must manually share folders with each VM individually. For a windows guest machine, you may see the vmware-host machine displayed in Windows Browser > Network. The VM can view and copy files from the shared folder, but it cannot add, change, or remove files.ĭepending on the different type and version of the guest operating system, the shared folders are displayed differently. Read-only: makes the shared folder read-only.Deselect this option when you want to disable the shared folder without deleting it from the VM configuration. Enable this share: enables the shared folder.Click Browse… to specify a Host path for this shared folder and provide a Name for it. In Folders section, click Add… to open the Shared Folder wizard, click Next to continue.ĥ. ✦ How to add shared folder in VMware WorkstationĤ. Note that if the VM is restarted, shared folders will remain enabled. Enabled until next power off or suspend: enable folder sharing temporarily, until the VM is shut down, suspended, or powered off.Always enabled: keeps folder sharing enabled, even when the VM is shut down, suspended, or powered off.Disabled: disable the folder sharing feature.There are 3 options in Folder sharing section: Navigate to Options > Shared Folders tab. Launch VMware Workstation, select the target virtual machine and click VM > Settings… on the toolbar.Ģ. How to enable shared folder in VMware Workstationġ. In this article, I will introduce how to enable shared folder in VMware Workstation, and an alternative file backup and restore way to copy files between any physical/virtual machines. However, since VMware ESXi is a type-1 bare-metal hypervisor, you cannot enable shared folder in VMware ESXi.įor VMware ESXi trandfer files to VM, you can use scp protocol or alternative professional file-based backup software. If you want to share files between a guest virtual machine and the host, using shared folders seems like a convenient good idea.īut how to enable shared folders? For VMware virtual machines, there is such a built-in feature in VMware Tools, makes enable shared folder in VMware Workstation an easy process.
