Where do my files go in Virtual Machine?

Question

I have VMWare player, because I believe it's the only free tool that VMware offers. I have a linux install working flawlessly, but aside from know how to full screen Linux, I have one problem. I save files, but I can't tell where they go. I have tried looking in C\Program Files(x86)\VMware but I couldn't find simple jpgs I saved. I've also looked in preferences in VMWare and couldn't find anything. Ideas?

Solution 1

Easier than setting up Samba or an FTP server on the Linux VM, why not install VMware Tools? That way you can share a folder between the host OS and guest VM - with the folder actually residing on the host. Save the files you want to access there and you can access them from your host OS.

Which Linux are you running? If you're running Ubuntu, install the vm tools is quick and easy. (I'm on slackware, not so quick and easy but do-able.)

FYI, VMware Workstation 9 is out today. As well as vmware player 5.

Solution 2

You need to think of your virtual machine more as an actual physical PC. If you pick up a hard disk, can you see what OS is installed? If you look at your CPU, can you tell what application are running?

The directory containing your virtual machine will have files that are: configuration information, virtual disk files, log files, snapshot files and some other misc files. Just like looking at a hard disk doesn't tell you what files are on it, you need to do something to see the files in your VM. While VMware does have some built in file sharing methods, you could also just share files as if your virtual machine was another PC on your network. That is, use Samba on Linux.

Solution 3

They will be located in the VHD, the virtual hard disk that VMware player uses to boot and run the virtual machine. Extracting it would require you to mount the VHD in Windows. It may be easier to simply share the file with your Windows machine instead.

Comments

[MSIS]

Do you save files inside the virtual machine and want to retrieve them in the real one?

[EGHDK]

Yes, preferably not over the network, because they are big files. Like a 2GB.

[EGHDK]

How would I go about sharing it?

[rtf]

Depends on your flavor of Linux. Look up Samba or CIFS sharing for your particular distro. Or save yourself the headache and set up an FTP server on the VM.

[Ramhound]

@EGHDK - My understanding is VMWARE Player is limited. It cannot create "new" virtual machnes, there are other restrictions, my suggestion use an actual FREE fully featured program, Windows 7 and Virtual Box have free FULL solutions.

[rtf]

I'm not very familiar with VMware, otherwise I would have suggested this myself! Sounds similar to Virtual Box guest additions. This is definitely the route to go and will make your virtualization experience more complete.