ESXi 8 with Workstation 17, copy paste drag & drop not working

[Stalexlife]

Hi everyone,

I'm quiet new on ESXi and I owned a DELL Server on which I have ESXi v8 and use Workstation 17 remotely to work with VM on it.

A windows server created with VMware tools installed successfully but I still cannot copy/paste or drag&drop files & text in the VM.

Editing the VM on workstation does not give any option for controlling these features like I could see on some topic found :

I have already tried many times to reinstall/repair tools and my VM status displayed tools are ok :

I didn't find any post which can help me and I'm on this since a few days so what am I missing ?

This server will be managed by a few users from differents locations so we need these features.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Maksym Roshchyna]

Please check here: 

 

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/17/com.vmware.ws.using.doc/GUID-5FC42BAD-0AAC-4EAF-8AD9-A41408ECF9BC.html 

 

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/17/com.vmware.ws.using.doc/GUID-81932397-8211-499E-925E-98FC73428636.html 

[Stalexlife]

It does not help.

All requirements are good, I'm trying to drap & drop from windows 11 to windows server 2022.

VMWare tools are installed but when drap & drop, it refused to do it with the deny icon displayed ().

Same with copy paste, copy on host and try to paste on guest does not working. Option is grayed out on guest like there is nothing to paste.

[Maksym Roshchyna]

Do not try a repair install from within the Guest OS as it likely will not fix this, unfortunately, the "Reinstall VMware Tools" from the drop down menu also falls in that category.

You really need the guest OS to reboot in between uninstall and install to make sure that all the files are in the correct locations.

 

In short follow these steps:

• Uninstall VMware Tools
• Reboot guest OS
• Install VMware Tools
• Reboot guest OS.

A bit of a longer description is: 

• In Windows, go to Control Panel -> Programs & Features -> Select VMware Tools -> Uninstall

Follow the steps from the installer to completely uninstall VMware Tools

• Reboot the guest (==Windows)
• Then from the Virtual Machine menu select "Install VMware Tools"

If no installer appears, go to the DVD-rom within windows and click "setup" (for 32 bits windows) or "setup64" (for 64 bits windows)

Once you see an installer, click "Next" until Finish, keep the defaults.

• Reboot the guest when done installing (it will ask by itself to reboot)

 

[Stalexlife]

Already done many times as said in the first post(reinstall means all your steps) with also VM recreation but still not working.

[Maksym Roshchyna]

Really strange

[pascalgautherot]

I've got same problem with workstation 17 running on Archlinux and win11 guest. VMware, you have a serious problem

[Fouad Sethna]

---

 wrote:

I've got same problem with workstation 17 running on Archlinux and win11 guest. VMware, you have a serious problem

---

 

Please check the docs:
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/17/com.vmware.ws.using.doc/GUID-5FC42BAD-0AAC-4EAF-8AD9-A41408ECF9BC.html

 

• You can drag images between applications on Windows hosts and applications on Windows guests only. Dragging images is not supported for Linux hosts or guests.

 

Are you having issues with copy paste too?

[Fouad Sethna]

---

 wrote:

Hi everyone,

I'm quiet new on ESXi and I owned a DELL Server on which I have ESXi v8 and use Workstation 17 remotely to work with VM on it.

A windows server created with VMware tools installed successfully but I still cannot copy/paste or drag&drop files & text in the VM.

Editing the VM on workstation does not give any option for controlling these features like I could see on some topic found :

 

I have already tried many times to reinstall/repair tools and my VM status displayed tools are ok :

I didn't find any post which can help me and I'm on this since a few days so what am I missing ?

This server will be managed by a few users from differents locations so we need these features.

 

Thanks for your help.

---

 

For the your ESXi 8.x VM Cut and Paste might need to be enabled. I added an example PowerCli script.

# Connect to vCenter Server or ESXi host
$vcServer = "your-vcenter-server"
$vcUsername = "your-username"
$vcPassword = "your-password"
Connect-VIServer -Server $vcServer -User $vcUsername -Password $vcPassword

# VM information
$vmName = "your-vm-name"

# Enable copy and paste (clipboard) functionality
$vm = Get-VM -Name $vmName
$vm | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name "isolation.tools.copy.disable" | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value 0 -Confirm:$false
$vm | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name "isolation.tools.paste.disable" | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value 0 -Confirm:$false

# Disconnect from vCenter Server or ESXi host
Disconnect-VIServer -Server $vcServer -Confirm:$false

 

Alternatively the the same settings can be changed as per the following kb: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/57122

[ThompsG]

In addition to what  said, pay attention to the article as this only allows the copy/paste of TEXT, i.e. not files and/folders.

 

I also noted that it can require a logoff and logon to the Web Client to take effect plus only works for the VMRC so not the web console. 

 

Hope this makes sense