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Creating Shared Folders

Having Parallels Tools installed lets you to transfer texts and small pictures between your main computer and virtual machine. To be able to exchange files you should setup shared folders. Shared folders are folders in your primary OS that are visible to the guest OS also. In your computer shared folders appear as usual folders, while in guest OS they are objects of the network neighborhood.

Using shared folders is possible for the following guest OSes:

Adding a Shared Folder

  1. Open the virtual machine configuration, click the Save VM Button button to open the Configuration Editor.
  2. In the Configuration Editor, select the Shared Folders tab. Select the Enable shared folders option.

    Configuration Editor Shared Folders Empty

  3. In the Shared Folders tab, click the Plus Button button to open the Shared Folder Properties dialog box.
  4. In the Shared Folder Properties dialog box:

    specify a name for the folder which will appear in your guest OS in the Name field;

    specify a folder in the file system your primary OS that will be shared in the Path field;

    if you want to restrict writing to this folder from inside the guest OS, select the Read Only check box. You will be able to save files to this folder in the primary OS only;

    make sure the Enabled check box is selected;

    and click OK.

    Add Shared Folder

  5. Click OK in the Configuration Editor.
  6. Click Save VM Button to save the virtual machine configuration.

Note. To view the content of shared folders in a virtual machine you should have Parallels Tools installed. Refer to the Parallels Tools chapter.

Viewing Shared Folders

To view the contents of the shared folders in the guest OS:

  1. Start the virtual machine.
  2. Open Windows Explorer.
  3. In the Explorer, select My Networks Places, then select Entire Network, and find the Parallels Shared Folders.
  4. Click the Parallels Shared Folders to view the list of shared folders available in your virtual machine.

When working with a shared folder inside a virtual machine, keep in mind that the ability to save files into this folder depends on its Read Only setting.