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
      0·
      7 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
        0·
        7 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.

  • Dave.@aussie.zone
    0·
    7 months ago

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

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

  • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
    0·
    7 months ago

    I run weird operating systems in VMs sometimes that don’t have guest tools at all. My solution is to make an ISO file containing the files I want to transfer (i.e. whatever package provides open-vm-tools and its dependencies). You could also go for a virtual floppy if you want to be really sure every possible OS can read the data.

    You could also set up a second VM that contains a mirror of your distro’s packages, hook that up to a virtual internal network, and use it as a source for software. If you want to ensure isolation, you can configure the mirror VM with just one single network interface that you toggle between WAN (for synchronising package updates) and your internal network (for hosting packages for your internal VMs). If VMWare provides the necessary APIs, you can script this process.

    • spaghetti_carbanana@krabb.org
      0·
      7 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.

  • thingsiplay@beehaw.org
    0·
    7 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.

  • Corsair@programming.devOPEnglish
    0·
    7 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 :)