Weird behavior when dragging files from host to guest (VMWare Workstation)

[ADDISON74]

Here is my implementation:

• Host: Windows 10 Pro 21H1 + VMWare Workstation Pro 16.1.2

• Guest: Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS + VMWare Tools installed from Ubuntu repository (package named open-vm-tools-desktop) because the one that comes with VMWare as an ISO disk version 10.3.22 it did not work at all after installing it properly.

I encounter a very strange behavior related to the drag & drop feature.

• If the Ubuntu desktop has no windows over it I cannot drag a file from host to guest. The mouse pointer remains as an arrow with a circle cut in front of it.

• If I open a Terminal window or any other application and resize the application window to leave some space just to see the desktop I can drag the file in that area.

Surprising or not, there are a lot of posts on the Internet related to the drag & drop feature in VMWare which is not working properly for Linux guests. I am pretty sure those gentlemen tried to drop the file as I did first time directly on the desktop and they did not know there is a trick to make it work.

The trick is really weird. Does anyone know why is this happening? I can live with it but it will be much better to find a solution or to understand what is behind the curtain.

Please note that doing (Ctrl + C) for the file on the host and then (Crtl + V) on the guest desktop is pasting the file even if there are no windows opened which is normal.

Thank you.

[lousybrit]

I have asked our DnD engineer(s) to take a look at this. Hopefully, they will report here with any updates or I will. Thanks.

[lousybrit]

Seems like the engineer for DnD and testing are having reproducibility issues. So they might ask for more details here to help.

[gauravjvmw]

@ADDISON74 Hi, Thanks for reporting. But we are unable to repro the issue on our end. It seems to be working fine here. Can you please do a fresh installation of open-vm-tools and open-vm-tools-desktop and see if it repros.

[ADDISON74]

I am an advanced system administrator. I removed completely both packages then I installed them from Ubuntu repository. The issue persists in 18.04.

A few moments ago I installed Ubuntu 20.04 from scratch on a different machine Windows 10 Pro 1909 then I installed the same packages. I was able to reproduce this issue again.

In Debian 10 things are worse than in Ubuntu.

I can leave with this issue.

[gauravjvmw]

Hi @ADDISON74 , Can you please share Vmware logs on host side, that will be helpful for us? Please try this activity 2,3 times where it doesn't copy for you and then the other case where it actually copies. Logs location (UI Log file and VM Log file) can be found by Clicking on Help-> About Workstation

[ADDISON74]

Here you may find logs from 3 different scenarios. Every run of the VM started with new empty log files.

I. Drag a file from Windows host to Ubuntu desktop (NOT WORKING) vmware.log vmware-ui-9716.log

II. Copy a file (Ctrl + C) from Windows host and paste it (Ctrl + V) to Ubuntu desktop (WORKING) vmware.log vmware-ui-8496.log

III. Drag a file from Windows host to Ubuntu desktop when Terminal or Nautilus windows are active and covering a part of the desktop (WORKING) vmware.log vmware-ui-8140.log

I hope this information helps you making an idea what is going on.

[gauravjvmw]

@ADDISON74 Weirdly there is nothing in these logs. Will keep an eye on this if somehow we can find a way to repro it. We tried ubuntu 20.04 also, but can't repro it there also.
In case if possible on your side, please set debugging level to Full. It should be present VM > Settings, click the Options tab, and select Advanced, you will find setting option there. On guest side you can enable logging using https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1007873 https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/16.0/workstation-pro-16-user-guide.pdf : Search for Gathering Debugging Information

If you can get these logs, It will be helpful to us may be we will see something there.

Thanks.