Specifications

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VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
Sharing Files by Connecting to a Linux System from a Windows
System
To share files on a Linux system with a Windows system (by connecting to a Linux
host from a Windows guest or connecting to a Linux guest from a Windows host or
guest), you can run Samba on the Linux system and browse shared directories in the
Linux file system from Network Neighborhood in the Windows system.
You need to modify Samba on the Linux host operating system so it recognizes the
vmnet8 switch, otherwise you cannot access the Linux file system. You need to do
this even if you installed host-only networking (as Samba is installed when you install
host-only networking with GSX Server). For more information about Samba, see Using
Samba for File Sharing on a Linux Host on page 280.
Connecting to a Linux Host from a Windows Guest
If you want to share the directory /home/user/shared, for example, on a Linux
host operating system with a Windows guest operating system, follow these steps:
1. On the Linux host operating system, back up the smb.conf file to a file called
something like smb.conf.orig.
cd /etc/vmware/vmnet1/smb
cp smb.conf smb.conf.orig
2. Modify Samba on the Linux host system. Edit the following lines in
/etc/vmware/vmnet1/smb/smb.conf.
a. Comment out the line starting with interfaces=<IP addresses>.
b. Below this line, add interfaces=vmnet1 vmnet8.
c. Provide a network workgroup name. Set workgroup=<name>.
d. If you do not want to use the standard DNS name for the Linux system, set
netbiosname=<Linux system name>.
e. You can leave security=user, unless you cannot connect, in which case
use security=share.
f. Set encrypt passwords=yes.
g. In the [global] section, define a different shared memory access key. Add
this line:
sysv shm key=/dev/vmnet8
h. For better performance, find this line:
socket options = TCP_NODELAY
Edit the line to state: