Transferring Files and Text Between the Host and Guest

Using Drag and Drop -Transferring Files and Text Between the Host and Guest

To use the drag‐and‐drop feature, make sure you have VMware Tools installed on the virtual machine. With this feature, you can move files and directories easily between Linux and Windows hosts and Linux, Windows, and Solaris 10 guests, but not between Windows 95 and Windows 98 guests.

Linux hosts and guests must be running X Windows. Solaris 10 guests must be running an Xorg X server and JDS/Gnome. 

You can drag and drop files or folders from a file manager, such as Windows Explorer, on the host to a file manager in the virtual machine and vice versa. You can also drag files from a file manager to an application that supports drag and drop, or from applications such as zip file managers that support drag‐and‐drop extraction of individual files. You can also drag and drop files from one virtual machine to another. 

When you drag a file or folder from host to virtual machine or from virtual machine to host, Workstation copies the file or folder to the location where you drop it. This means, for example, that if you drop a file on the desktop icon of a word processor, the word processor opens with a copy of the original file. The original file does not reflect any changes you make to the copy. 

Initially, the application opens using a copy of the file that is stored in your temp directory. On Windows, this is the file specified in the %TEMP% environment variable, and on Linux and Solaris, it is the /tmp/VMwareDnD directory. To protect any changes you make, choose File>Save As from the application’s menu and save the file in a different directory. Otherwise, it can be overwritten or deleted by mistake.

To prevent files from accidentally being transferred between the virtual machine and the host, turn off this feature, as described in the following procedure.

To enable or disable drag and drop for a virtual machine

Make sure VMware Tools is installed on the 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 Guest Isolation. 
• To enable or disable the setting, use the check box called Enable drag and drop to and from this virtual machine and click OK.