Mike Healan
Jan 25, 2006
Two Machines, One File
Since the virtual machine is separated from the real machine, it takes a little work to share files between one and the other.
USB Drives
If you have a hard drive or jump drive (also known as a pen drive) that connects to the computer via USB, then this probably is the easiest way to share files.
Linux cannot write to NTFS. Or, more accurately, it can write to NTFS, but it will destroy it in the process. Microsoft refuses to allow Windows to see any file system associated with Linux.
For these reasons, the drive will need a FAT, FAT16 or FAT32 file system. Most jump drives come formatted with the FAT file system and are ridiculously cheap ($5.00, give or take, for 256MB), so this is your best bet.
If you have a USB hard drive, you need a FAT32 partition in order for both Windows and Linux to be able to use it. It needs to be large enough to hold any file that you might transfer. If I remember correctly, no single file can be larger than 2GB on a FAT32 file system. If you have to repartition or reformat the USB hard drive, make certain you back up any files stored on it, before altering it.
When you plug in the USB drive, or if it already is plugged in when you start the Browser Appliance, the VM Player window will show a button for it. To use it from within the Browser Appliance, click the button to "connect" the drive. This will dismount the drive in Windows, so close anything that might be using a file on the USB drive.
This ~usually~ works. Linux is kind of goofy about USB drives, so you may have to pull the drive in and out of the USB port repeatedly or even reboot Ubuntu a few times before it sees the drive and mounts it. Be aware that it will take several seconds for it to recognize and mount the drive. The logo next to "VMWare Player", at the bottom of the player window, will be flashing while it does this.
When and if the Browser Appliance finally sees the drive and lets you use it, a window should pop up and an icon will be placed on the desktop. When you are done, click the button on the VM Player's title bar to "disconnect" the drive, then use Windows Explorer to work with it. Wait until Windows remounts the drive before trying to open Windows Explorer.
When you click the button to connect the drive to the VMware Player, you may see an error message. If Windows says that the USB drive is in use and cannot be disconnected, then something on Windows has locked a file on that drive. Install a program called Unlocker on Windows, in order to deal with this.
After you have installed Unlocker on Windows, open "My Computer" and right-click on the USB drive's icon. Click the Unlocker entry. If anything is listed, click on the "Unlock All" button. That will terminate any file locks on that drive. Now you can try to connect the drive to the Browser Appliance again.
FTP Server
If you can't make the USB drive work or if you don't have one, you can set up an FTP server instead. You need a server and a client.
The Server
You want to install this server on the Browser Appliance, rather than on your real computer. On the other hand, if you already have an FTP server running on your real computer, you can skip the rest of this and go right to the "The Client" section.
Click the "Applications" button, go to "Accessories" and click the entry for "Terminal". Type the following:
sudo apt-get install proftpd
When it asks for the password, type vmware.
Text will flash by quickly for a few seconds, then it will ask you to continue. Press y and hit "Enter".
When it asks whether to use "inetd" or "standalone", go with "standalone" and press "Enter". It will install the server and start it automatically.
The Client
You will need an FTP client. I suggest Filezilla for Windows. You also can just use Internet Explorer. Firefox cannot be used as an FTP client, on either system.
For Ubuntu, you will be installing gFTP. If you already have a preferred Linux FTP client or you don't want one, you can skip to the "Connecting to the Server" section. If your only FTP server is installed on Windows, you will need to install a client on Ubuntu.
Click the "Applications" button, go to "Accessories" and click the entry for "Terminal". Type the following:
sudo apt-get install gftp
When it asks for the password, type vmware.
Text will flash by quickly for a few seconds, then it will ask you to continue. Press y and hit "Enter". When it is done, gFTP will be installed at "Applications" > "Internet".
Connecting to the Server
Now you have to figure out the IP address of your server.
If you installed the server on Ubuntu, then you will be connecting to it with your Windows FTP client. The user name and password are both "vmware". The port is 21.
Look on the taskbar at the top of the Ubuntu desktop. In between the volume icon and the weather icon, there is an icon for an applet that lets you look at your network connection. If you hover the mouse over it, there should be a pop-up balloon that says "Network Connection: eth0". Left-click this icon.
A small applet will open. Click the "Support" tab. The IP address being used by Ubuntu will be the top number. That is the address of the FTP server, if you installed it on Ubuntu.
If you plan to use Internet Explorer for this, connect to it by typing ftp://vmware:vmware@ipaddress. Internet Explorer will do fine, although it may be slow, depending on your firewall.
If you installed the server on Windows, then you will be connecting to it with gFTP on Ubuntu. The user name and password will be for whatever user(s) you set up on the server. The port will be 21, unless you changed it in the server for that interface.
Open a CMD prompt on Windows (Start > Run > CMD). In the CMD prompt, type ipconfig. Look for this line: "Ethernet adapter VMware Network Adapter VMnet1:". The IP address listed just under that entry is the address of your Windows FTP server, at least as far as Ubuntu is concerned.
If you connect to your Windows server from the FTP client on Ubuntu, it most likely will set off a firewall alert. Allow the connection.
Depending on your firewall and its settings, it may or may not take several seconds to connect to the server, especially if you use Internet Explorer. Kerio, for some reason, causes a delay when I do this.
These are the two easiest ways to share files between the Browser Appliance and your real computer. Just keep in mind that you still can infect yourself with spyware, if you download a program that bundles it and move it to your Windows computer.
Page Four- More Apps for the Browser Appliance
