How to connect VM Ware Fusion to Windows based server

Hi everyone. I have been trying to test something out but im not sure of the final step.

I work in an office where we all have PC's and the server is a windows based server. I brought in my Macbook Pro so see if it is possible to switch my PC in my office to an iMac if i wanted to. Since my e-mail in outlook is POP3 based i know i can somehow migrate my PST file over to a Mac so i dont lose my e-mails and use the Mail app on the Mac for my e-mail.

I have been able to access my server from the Mac finder so i am able to open documents and access photos and things like the from the server.

Now the last step (which is important) is that i have a few programs that are Windows only programs that i need. Their accounting programs. This is why i got a copy of VM Ware Fusion. This morning i finally got my hands on a copy of Windows XP Professional and loaded it through VM Ware Fusion and its up and running fine. Now i chose NOT to share files with my Mac because i didnt want to run the risk of ever having a virus passed to my Mac from the Windows. Now im not going to be using the internet through Windows, or get e-mail through Windows so i dont know how i would get a virus anyways. But i am not able to access my server.

Do i need to share files between VM Ware Fusion and my Mac to be able to access the server i can already access through finder on the Mac?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I'm not too familiar with VMware Fusion, but on VirtualBox there's a place where you set up a NAT connection between your physical network connection on the Host machine and the Guest VM..that way, the guest OS has access to the network as well..

Can you check to see if you've setup something similar in VMWare and that might get you what you need..

Regards

Im not exactly the BEST with the intricate works of computers. Im trying to map a network drive in Windows. I know how to do it on my work computer and when i go to the specific server and map the drive it wont let me hit OK. It greys out. Does anyone know how to map a network drive for a server through VM Ware Fusion?

I tried it with file sharing as well and i still get the same result.

The short answer to your question is that you would connect to the server just as you would any other Windows PC. By default VMWare uses NAT, so it should see the network just like your Mac would or any other virtual machine running on it.

Just accessing a share on a server? It should be as simple as right-clicking 'My Computer' and clicking 'Map Network Drive', assuming you have the path.

cwa107 said:

The short answer to your question is that you would connect to the server just as you would any other Windows PC. By default VMWare uses NAT, so it should see the network just like your Mac would or any other virtual machine running on it.

Just accessing a share on a server? It should be as simple as right-clicking 'My Computer' and clicking 'Map Network Drive', assuming you have the path.

Click to expand...

That is what i have been trying to do, but when i go to map network drive and go to the path i see all the other computers on the network and the server. Now i know when i normally map a network drive in here i go to the server and hit the plus sign next to it and it expands to show all the folders on the server. When i hit the plus sign next to server in Fusion nothing comes up.

Keebler229 said:

That is what i have been trying to do, but when i go to map network drive and go to the path i see all the other computers on the network and the server. Now i know when i normally map a network drive in here i go to the server and hit the plus sign next to it and it expands to show all the folders on the server. When i hit the plus sign next to server in Fusion nothing comes up.

Click to expand...

Your company probably uses a domain. If that's true, the reason you can't see the shares is that you're not authenticated. You can handle this one of two ways...

1. Join your virtual machine to the domain (you'll need to discuss with your IT folks).

2. Check the "login using different credentials" at the Map Network Drive dialog. At that point, you should be prompted for your credentials. Make sure you preface the user name with <domain name>\ So, for example, if your username is jsmith and the domain is xyzcompany, then you would use:

xyzcompany\jsmith

...in the username field.

Once you've done that, it should let you expand the server and choose your share. Alternatively, you may need to specify both the servername and the sharename in the path field. For example, if the server was called "SERVER1" and the share was called "MARKETING", then you'd put the following in the path field:

\\server1\marketing



Do bear in mind that this is not some kind of eccentricity of the Mac, Windows, or Windows running on a virtual machine. This is simply what it's like to access a network resource in an Active Directory environment when your machine is not a domain member. This would happen even if you ran out and bought a spanking new Dell and tried to plug it into your network.