You have to build and then install VMWare tools modules in the Linux OS in order to share host OS file system into your guest OS.
VMWare provides this capability within itself and is normally considered trivial undertaking. Here is a link to step by step process if you are up to it: https://linuxvox.com/blog/installer-vmware-tools-linux/ As name implies in that auto mounter mounts file system automatically just-in-time when you navigate to a path within auto mounted file system. The contents of those file system will automagically appear when you are in one of the directories that fall within auto mounter, and disappear when you leave the file system after idle/delay time has elapsed. -----Original Message----- From: Louise <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2026 5:14 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [GNC] cannot write back to Windows share Hello everyone, and thanks for all the help. I was actually getting confused with all the things I had read on line and tried, so I went back to first principles. I had actually both shared folders (VMWare) and an auto mount (Linux) set up up. I deleted everything and started again. I found the hared folders (VMWare) was not working for some reason, but the auto mount(Linux). Everything is working fine, although I'm disappointing that the Shared folders were not working. Still, everything is working how it should now. Thanks for everything. Louise. On 2026-02-23 1:44 p.m., Mark Bourne wrote: > Louise wrote: >> I think this might be "programmers" question rather than a GnuCash >> question. >> >> I have an existing Windows 10 system, but I am trialing Linux mint >> 22.3 in a VMWare virtual machine. I am looking at droppingW10 when >> I'm happy with Linux. So far so good but I have an issue with GnuCash. >> >> My data is still on the Windows drive. I have set up an auto mount >> for launch. I can access the data on the windows share, but GnuCash >> wont let me save changes back to the windows share. >> >> This is the message: > > [Attached image shows "GnuCash could not write to > /media/windows/data/Documents/Finances/Accounts and > Budgets/GnuCash/2026 Accounts.gnucash. That database may be on a > read-only file system, you may not have write permission for the > directory or your anti-virus software is preventing this action."] > > Can you create new files in the shared folder? > > I don't use GnuCash in a VM but, with other applications running on an > Ubuntu Linux guest under VirtualBox on a Windows host, I have found > that files can be created in a shared folder on the Linux guest but > then can't be modified, giving a message implying the file is > read-only. Although my experience is with VirtualBox, it could be that > something similar can happen with VMware (presumably Workstation?). I > don't know what the cause of the problem is; perhaps some process on > the Windows host (maybe antivirus or other security software) holds a > handle on the file so that it can't be opened for writing. > >> I set permissions to 777, But when I look at the accounts file, I >> have read/write, my group only has read-only. >> >> What should the permissions be, and what would be the best way to set >> them properly. > > The underlying filesystem mounted at /media/windows/ (or maybe > /media/windows/data/ is the mount point) in the VM is still a Windows > filesystem, where permissions work very differently than on Linux. > You probably can't reliably change permissions from the Linux guest. > > I'm not sure offhand how shared folders work with VMware. With > VirtualBox, a "Guest Additions" package needs to be installed in the > guest. Folders shared from the host are then mounted under /media/ as > being owned by root but with a "vboxsf" group having read/write > permissions (and no access for other users). The user account in the > guest needs to be added to that vboxsf group to be able to access the > folder at all. > > Still on VirtualBox, there's an option when setting up a shared folder > in the VM settings to specify whether the folder is read-only or > read/write within the guest. Is there a similar option in VMware? Is > it set to read/write? On VirtualBox, the directory in the guest still > appears to have write permission for the vboxsf group, but attempting > to write to it fails with a "read-only file system" error. Perhaps > VMware more accurately reflects that via the group write bit if the > share is configured to be read-only, so check in VMware that the share > is configured to be writeable. > > Do the files/directories appear as owned by the user you're logged in > as within the guest, and does that user have write permissions? If > so, you should be fine as far as the emulated Linux permissions go > even if the group doesn't have write permission. However, the > filesystem still might not actually allow writes (which is what seems > to happen in my case with VirtualBox). > > Not sure how much any of that will help, given I have little > experience of VMware Workstation, but perhaps it will give some ideas > of things to look for... > _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
