Windows Shared Folder Access For VMware Virtual Machines

by

Shared Folder Not Visible Inside VMware

If you experience missing share folder in the /mnt directory while using VMware Player with your Linux image, follow these steps. This tutorial is based on Kali Linux OS image, but it will work for any linux flavor, including Ubuntu.

VMvare Settings

Open your Virtual Machine settings and browse to Options. Select Shared Folders and add your Windows host folder. Start your virtual machine.

  • VMvare Virtual Machine Settings – Shared Folders

Edit System Configuration File

Configure fstab file for auto-mounting of your shared folders.

  • open fstab in nano editor
sudo nano /etc/fstab
  • add this command
vmhgfs-fuse /mnt/hgfs fuse defaults,allow_other 0 0
  • save (CTRL – O) and go back to terminal

Create Directory

  • Create directory for mount point.
sudo mkdir /mnt/hgfs

Reload Configuration File

To refresh fstab entries without reboot, use mount command.

sudo mount -a

Shared Folder Preserved During Reboots

You should have access now to your shared folders. The change is preserved during reboots, because it’s permanently added to fstab configuration. You can browse to your Windows 10 folders and access all the files from within the VMware virtual machine.

  • VMware Windows 10 Shared Folder Access From Linux