I don't understand how shared folders work!

[eobet]

First of all, why can't I share folders in XP or OS X like normal, and have them pop up in the network?

The above would be optimal, imo, because there would be nothing new to learn.

But since that apparently doesn't work, can someone please explain this mysterious "shared folders" concept?

Thanks!

DISCLAIMER: I've searched these forums and seen about four or five threads on the subject. Still don't understand. Please give me a solution worthy of Apple's simple intuitivity!

PS. Seriously, I have enabled something called "shared folders" in the Fusion preferences, even edited the vmx file, but nothing happened, no guide, options or anything. If Fusion is going to be a consumer product, this has got to be made easier and more OS X like!

EDIT: I just discovered that OS X can't even see the network workgroup of the VM. So there's something wrong with the way my virtual computer's network works. Internet works fine, but not file sharing.

[admin]

What sort of network type is your VM using (NAT/bridged/host-only)? Have you checked that the OS X firewall is off?

[eobet]

The OS X firewall is on, because at home, I can connect to the shares my XP machine via my Airport Express without chaning any settings, and this also works when I connect my MBP via firewire to my parents PC.

If I need to switch off the firewall settings in order to see the shares on the VM, something is wrong with Fusion, imo.

It says that I'm using NAT, btw.

PS. I don't normally share any files on my MBP, because I think the OS X filesharing options are nonexistent and I don't like loosing control like that, so I just mount shares with read/write access from my other XP machines instead.

UPDATE: A friend of mine said that the VM needed to be in bridged mode, so I toggled that setting in the Fusion settings, but nothing seems to have happened, neither in OS X nor XP. What did I miss?

UPDATE 2: Tried pressing cmd-K in OS X and mount my VM via smb:://fusion and it told me to enter my user password and I was able to choose the correct shared XP folder... but now, after about two minutes, nothing more has happened.

[eobet]

I'm going to reply to my own thread with how I solved this now:

Bridged mode DOES work with XP shares...

...but not before completely and utterly hanging OS X when I attempted to launch a VM application via spotlight. All applications in OS X accessing the internet simply froze and Fusion itself absolutely refused to be terminated (and OS X refused to launch the activity monitor). Had to power down my MBP, and then carefully launch Fusion the normal way, which then made XP and its workgroup pop up nicely in OS X.

Perhaps it is a bad idea to try to enable this "shared folder" feature while in bridged mode?

Anyway, if someone wants to post a guide or explanation, please do, otherwise, to hell with that feature as I'm happilly using my XP shares as normal now.

Why they even included the shared folders feature is beyond me, right now... isn't it just extra work for no benefit, as the virtualized machines all surely support networking and thus can share their files over the network like any normal computer?

[admin]

Please post what you did to solve the problem for the benefit of other users.

Why they even included the shared folders feature is beyond me, right now... isn't it just extra work for no benefit, as the virtualized machines all surely support networking and thus can share their files over the network like any normal computer?

It's useful if you want the VM to be completely isolated from the network but still want to get files in and out, or want a more secure way of sharing files than using the network. You could probably do some scripty things that wouldn't work with just DnD. There may be historical reasons for having shared folders. Other people might be able to add more benefits.

[eobet]

Aha, so the "shared folders" feature doesn't require a network... but it requires the file sharing to be enabled on the host?

The original question for this topic is still open and unanswered.

My solution IS posted above, I solved it by bridging the network instead of using shared folders!

[admin]

I think there's been a misunderstanding here. I thought you were asking about windows file sharing, but I gather you were asking about Fusion's shared folder feature.

Aha, so the "shared folders" feature doesn't require a network... but it requires the file sharing to be enabled on the host?

I strongly doubt it requires file sharing.

So why were you expecting the shared folders to pop up on the network? The way it works is that you select a folder on the Mac (say ~/Public) and add it as a shared folder in Fusion (under Settings). For the guest to see it, you need VMware Tools installed in the guest. The shared folder should be under
.host\Shared Folders\whatever-name-you-entered

[eobet]

Yes, it is unfortunate that the two have so similar names.

When I say "shared folders" I refer to Fusion's built in function.

When I say "shares", I refer to XP file sharing.

I was not expecting the "shared folders" to show up in the network, but I couldn't get the
.host path feature to work either, despite enabling it in the preferences and editing the .vmx file (and, of course, having VMware Tools installed).

Hopefully, when Fusion is final, this "shared folders" feature will be renamed to something less confusing, and the VMware Tools will automatically create a shortcut on the desktop when the option is enabled.

But as I said, I'm satisfied using my "shares" for now.

[admin]

Hopefully, when Fusion is final, this "shared folders" feature will be renamed to something less confusing, and the VMware Tools will automatically create a shortcut on the desktop when the option is enabled.

The shortcut should be created; if it's not, it's a bug and you should report it. I'm starting an easy install now to verify this happens.

One possibility: there are two enable buttons for shared folders - one for each shared folder, and one per-VM setting. Are both set?

[eobet]

They used to be, yes.

Note that my VM currently is from beta 1.

I will create a new VM later during the week with SCSI and so on.

If you're going to look for bugs, you could try to have sharing enabled, as I described, and put Fusion in bridged mode and launch an application via Unity and see if the entire thing locks upp OS X as it did for me.

[admin]

The fresh easy install did end up showing up with a working shortcut on the desktop. It may be that the shortcut is only created with easy install.

If you're going to look for bugs, you could try to have sharing enabled, as I described, and put Fusion in bridged mode and launch an application via Unity and see if the entire thing locks upp OS X as it did for me.

I'll... um... try that later.