How can I enable copy and paste between my host and VMware guest OS?

Question

I have a VMware 6 Workstation installation running on my XP 64-bit host OS. I have a 32-bit Windows 2003 guest. I simply want to be able to put something on the clipboard in one world and paste it into the other world, but the clipboards seem entirely distinct. I see the "Guest Isolation" setting for my VM, and it's set to allow both drag/drop and copy/paste to and from the VM, but this doesn't seem to be helping. What else can I try?

Edit: Sorry about the lack of clarity... I did mean simply to put a text-only item on the clipboard. I hadn't even considered something more complex. I was copying/ctrl-c'ing from Notepad and trying to paste that into the other place. No love.

But, I just updated the VMware Tools client app. It seems like I had already installed it, but it may have been old, corrupted, or otherwise hosed. Getting a new version and rebooting (I had already tried rebooting without updating the tools, BTW) worked wonderfully. I can copy my text all around now.

Answer 1

Not sure about VMWare, but in MS Virtual PC there's a package you need to install on the guest OS to enable this kind of thing.

Answer 2

ZombieSheep is right, it's usually called Virtual Guest Additions or something similar, though I think you've probably installed that if the Guest Isolation option isn't disabled.

Answer 3

You have to install the vmware tools on the guest OS. It should be an item on the Virtual Machine menu bar. HTH!

Answer 4

It depends on what you are meaning by "put on your clipboard". You should be able to perform a simple copy and paste of a short text string via the clipboard sharing, but not anything complicated like copying a file.

To copy a file or folder, you can drag and drop the object from the guest to host (or vice versa). Be careful with this though, as it creates extra copies in your %TEMP% folder on the host.

Answer 5

Heres a video tutorial showing you exactly what to do.

Answer 6

You'll have to install VMware Tools. Go to the vShere client, right mouse on the guest, select Guest then Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.

Answer 7

I just found out that if you switch the mouse buttons, drag and drop doesn't work! Check it out!