To set up shared folders for a virtual machine - VMware

Using Shared FoldersWith shared folders you can easily share files among virtual machines and the host computer. You choose a directory on the host or on a network directory that is accessible to the host, and you give it the name you want to use on the guest. To use shared folders, you must have the current version of VMware Tools installed in the guest operating system and you must configure your virtual machine settings to specify which directories are to be shared. 
You can use shared folders with virtual machines running the following guest operating systems and on all supported host systems:

• Windows Server 2003
• Windows XP
• Windows 2000
• Windows NT 4.0
• Windows Vista
• Linux with a kernel version of 2.4 or higher
• Solaris x86 10
• Solaris x86 10 Update 1
• Solaris x86 10 Update 2
• Solaris x86 10 Update 3

The shared folders can be in the host computer’s file system or they can be network directories accessible from the host computer.

To set up shared folders for a virtual machine
Start Workstation and select the virtual machine. The virtual machine can be either powered on or powered off.

• Choose VM>Settings. The virtual machine settings editor opens. 
• Click the Options tab, and select Shared Folders. Click Add 
• On Windows, clicking Add starts the Add Shared Folder wizard. On Linux, it opens the Shared Folder Properties dialog box.

Use the following information to help you complete the wizard or Properties dialog box:

• Name – Name that appears inside the virtual machine Host folder – Path on the host to the directory that you want to share. Enabled or Enable this share – You might want to add a folder to the list without enabling it immediately. In this case, deselect this option to disable the shared folder without deleting it from the virtual machine configuration. You can then enable the folder at any time by selecting the check box next to its name in the list. You can alternatively select its name in the list, click Properties, and enable the folder in the Properties dialog box.
• Read‐only – Select this option to prevent the virtual machine from changing the contents of the shared folder in the host file system. 
• Access to files in the shared folder is also governed by permission settings on the host computer. To change these properties, use the Properties dialog box. On Windows, after you select Shared Folders on the Options tab, click Properties.
• After the shared folder is created, on the Shared Folders settings panel, use one of the check boxes in the Folder Sharing section to enable shared folders for this virtual machine. Select Enabled until next power off or suspend if you want to enable folder sharing temporarily, until you shut down, suspend, or restart the virtual machine. You need to select either this option or Always enabled if you want to enable or disable specific folders in the Folders section.

Access the enabled shared folder on the guest operating system: 

On a Windows guest operating system, map a network drive to the Shared Folders directory.
On Linux, shared folders appear under /mnt/hgfs. On Solaris, shared folders appear under /hgfs.