Hi,

I have a fresh debian VM under VMware W0rkstation.

I was wondering how can I pass data between the host (Windows :/ and the VM) with the VM being fully offline is it possible ?

Tested and not working:

  • host sharing a network drive (SMB) not possible as debian will require the install of cifs-utils
  • create a virtualized NTFS drive. not possible need ntfs-3g for debian

Any ideas ?

note: open-vm-tools is impossible either as I want to install it without being connected ton the www.[1]

Thanks.

  1. World Wide Web (aka internet) ↩︎

    • spaghetti_carbanana@krabb.org
      3·
      2 months ago

      This is the method I use in your scenario, OP. You can use Folder2iso to get the files in that you need. If the OS has official VMware tools, you can also mount the VMware Tools ISO straight from workstation into the VM and this will give you the clipboard service so you can copy and paste files between the host and VM, if this scenario is permitted within your isolation needs.

      Otherwise, go the ISO route. You just can’t bring stuff out of the VM back to the host is all.

  • Dave.@aussie.zone
    6·
    2 months ago

    SSH/SCP. Install Winscp or Filezilla on the host.

    Or alternatively, Windows version of tar -> netcat -> network -> netcat -> Linux version of tar.

    • spaghetti_carbanana@krabb.org
      6·
      2 months ago

      The two aren’t even in the same league. I’m a big open source advocate don’t get me wrong, but VirtualBox is horrible to use and its not what OP asked.

      • moonpiedumplings@programming.dev
        3·
        2 months ago

        If you’re not trying to create complex virtual networks, or have hardware accelerated graphics, VirtualBox can be a bit unintuitive, but has all of the features that VMWare makes you pay for, available for free.

  • Corsair@programming.devOPEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    Thank you all for your input’s !! 🤗

    I’ve put the files on a USB flash drive formatted as a classic FAT. Then I mounted it in the VM (I confirm no need the VMware-tools for that :)

  • thingsiplay@beehaw.org
    2·
    2 months ago

    I don’t use VMware, so these are just ideas. Without using a network, I have to possible solutions in mind: a) can you drag and drop between the machines? or b) use a usb-stick to write and read from, at least until you find a better solution.

  • JASN_DE@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 months ago

    As you need an installation medium anyway, get those packages while you’re at it, then install them on the VM.

  • ReversalHatchery@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    Not sure whether open-vm-tools is needed for that, but you could try using the clipboard for the purpose. Compress the data and BASE32 encode it. Maybe also split it to smaller units so that it fits any clipboard limits.

    How much data do you want to transfer?

    You could also consider copying open-vm-tools to the VM this way, and then you could make use of proper shared folders.