VMware 'Drag&Drop' feature stopped working with Kali

Question

I am using a Windows 10 host machine with a VMware Workstation 15 Pro (15.0.2 build-10952284).

The drag&drop feature stopped working with one of the guest machines, which is a Kali Linux (Kali GNU/Linux Rolling 2020.3). It still works fine for the windows machines.

The copy&paste feature works fine for all machines, Kali included.

So far I have tried:

• Restarting the guest, VMware, and the host machine

• Checking the guest isolation options, which are properly checked.

• Reinstalling the VMware tools as instructed by the feature "Reinstall VMware Tools..." - This broke the c&p feature.

• Follow the steps to install open-vm-tools from a similar problem here - This caused the machine to freeze completely whenever I tried to drag&drop.

• Tried some similar solution with slight variations here and here - Same result

• Check and uncheck the guest isolation as also suggested here - Did nothing

• Enable the run-vmblock\\x2dfuse.mount feature as suggested here - Also nothing

• Update: Also used this excellent guide, which is somewhat similar to the above, but uses the --purge options when removing the previous package. This solved the freeze issue, but did not enable the DnD feature.

If anyone has any solution for this I would highly appreciate it :-)

Would be happy to provide any further details necessary.

Thanks!

Update: The guest is bridged to the host's network, but for some reason I can only ping host->guest and not the other way around. When I turn off the firewall I can ping both ways, but not drag and drop.

Answer 1

Drag and drop in this context is for files.

Is your other system properly mapped (smb://192.168.x.y) ?

If I map a drive on the other system, drag and drop works fine. If I do not map a drive, drag and drop does not work. So this is likely a security change.

Without logging in, the feature will depend upon successful browsing which does not always work, even now in Windows. So it is necessary to map a drive before dragging and dropping.

Follow up note:

I am using a Windows 10 host machine with a VMware Workstation 15 Pro (15.0.2 build-10952284).

There was an issue with Kali machines and a VMware Workstation 15 + version causing Kali to hang and VMware to "Stop Working" Nothing to do with Drag and Drop. But it was corrected in Workstation 15 ++ . Try upgrading VMware Workstation. I am using V16 at this point.

In response to the Firewall question:

The following ports are associated with file sharing and server message block (SMB) communications: Microsoft file sharing SMB: User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports from 135 through 139 and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) ports from 135 through 139.

From: https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/298804/internet-firewalls-can-prevent-browsing-and-file-sharing#:~:text=The%20following%20ports%20are%20associated,ports%20from%20135%20through%20139.

Also make sure File and Print Sharing and Network Discovery or the equivalent for Linux are enabled on all machines.