Resolving VMware’s “Unable to update run-time folder sharing status: Unknown error”

vmware-fix

http://jesseforrest.name/resolving-vmwares-unable-to-update-run-time-folder-sharing-status-unknown-error/305

The Problem
Sometimes when upgrading VMware, I noticed that I can no longer share directories between my local file system and the VMs file system.

In an effort to get shared folders working, I would then go to the following location in VMware:
Virtual Machine -> Sharing -> Sharing Settings …

I would accurately see the folders I want to share and I would see that Shared Folders is “ON”. In an attempt to re-share the folders I toggled Shared Folders to “OFF”. I then toggled it back to “ON” and noticed the following error:

Unable to update run-time folder sharing status: Unknown error 

The Solution

The problem is related to VMware tools and you will need to reinstall it. Here are the steps you should follow:

1. Open up VMware

2. Go to:
Virtual Machine -> Update VMware Tools

3. Click “Install” button

4. It will automatically download the VMware Tools package. When the package is completed downloading double click the *.tar.gz file to untar all it’s contents.

5. Go to the recently expanded folder (you might need to put a different path to where it actually downloaded the distribution):
cd ./vmware-tools-distrib/bin/

6. Change to root:
sudo -s

7. Remove current VMware Tools:
./vmware-uninstall-tools.pl

8. Reinstall:
cd ..
./vmware-install.pl

Use all the default values by simply hitting the enter key.