Sharing a network share mounted on VM guest with the host?

[destrekor]

So doing it the other way around is trivial, but I can't seem to get this approach to work.

At least, for my situation, that is.

I have my Windows 10 guest connected to my work VPN using the SSL VPN connector from Checkpoint, so it's not really a standard VPN solution as far as Windows is concerned.

I've mounted a couple network shares to the file server at the office, and that works great. But what I'm trying to do is then mount a network share on the Windows 10 desktop host which would connect to the guest. What I did was create a symlink directory on the guest that points to its network share, and I have that link shared out, but I can't get the connection to establish due to funky permissions.

When I mounted the share on the guest I had to use my work credentials, obviously, but I can't connect to the symlink'd share from host to guest using basically any credentials I've entered.

I just want to be able to browse all my personal documents and department documents so I can open and edit using Office on my desktop, of which I don't have on the VM.

 

[Mushkins]

Is there any reason you can't just connect the host to the work network via Checkpoint VPN? I don't understand why the VM has to act as a middle-man.

Also what virtualization software are you using? It could be as simple as a firewall or VM network setting.

 

[destrekor]

Is there any reason you can't just connect the host to the work network via Checkpoint VPN? I don't understand why the VM has to act as a middle-man.

Also what virtualization software are you using? It could be as simple as a firewall or VM network setting.

VMware Workstation 12 Viewer.

And I do the middleman approach so that only my work traffic is going through the VPN. I don't want ALL of my internet activity hitting the work network. D: I do like my job.

 

[Ketchup]

When I started working from home I tried both ways and, at least in my case, working from the host is is MUCH easier. I am using separate browser profile, email apps, etc, which is only for work. But personal things are done on another browser profile, or in my VM. I have tried running work apps out of a VM, and while I personally didn't have any red light issues with the VM and remote shares, it is MUCH easier with the way I am doing it now, and I still can keep work and play separate on the same machine.

 

[destrekor]

When I started working from home I tried both ways and, at least in my case, working from the host is is MUCH easier. I am using separate browser profile, email apps, etc, which is only for work. But personal things are done on another browser profile, or in my VM. I have tried running work apps out of a VM, and while I personally didn't have any red light issues with the VM and remote shares, it is MUCH easier with the way I am doing it now, and I still can keep work and play separate on the same machine.

Well browser profiles don't hide anything from the network, so all browsing activity is still going through the VPN and any logging is capturing it.

Using a VM for personal use and, say, applying a privacy VPN like Private Internet Access, would at least tunnel everything past any logging on the work network, but that's far less than ideal IMHO. I like doing personal stuff on my personal desktop, especially when working with, um, stuff that utilizes FTP and trackers and the like. Everything is tidy when on the same system.

I guess I'll just have to deal with it the way I had before: setting up Dsynchronize to replicate the work share on the VM to another folder on the VM, and then sharing that and mounting it on the host. That worked before, although I nuked it when trying to get this other approach working again.

The way I have it now, with the work stuff on the VM with the work VPN on that only, my network traffic should all go through the open net and only the tunneled traffic on the VM goes to the work network. I like that much better.

I only have to do this additional work from home thing during a couple months out of the year (I still work in the office during standard hours), so I guess it's a small inconvenience that I can live with.

I have a work laptop I can do all this with, but that's a single monitor and I'd only want to do only work browsing on that, and I don't have a good spot on the desk to use that without obscuring a monitor so handling both machines isn't at all feasible. This way I can do all I want when not working on my desktop, and when I have to do remote sessions with LogMeIn, I still keep that on my host so I can use all my monitor real estate for that.

I really, really like this setup, my workflow is perfect, I just wanted a more efficient way to handle network file access. But it's not a huge need, as it's not something I have to do all the time. And most of the files are static that I would open up on the host.

 

[Ketchup]

Well browser profiles don't hide anything from the network, so all browsing activity is still going through the VPN and any logging is capturing it.

I'll go ahead and clarify on that. Only the work profile is used when on the vpn. The other profile is for when I am not connected (at it's the same profile I pull up on my VM when I'm at work).

 

[destrekor]

I'll go ahead and clarify on that. Only the work profile is used when on the vpn. The other profile is for when I am not connected (at it's the same profile I pull up on my VM when I'm at work).

Ah. So you don't do any personal activity on the network while connected to the VPN?

During a few months out of the year, I am helping with remote support from home on weeknights and weekends, after my regular work hours. I am definitely doing whatever I would normally do afterwork, the exception being little to no game-playing at this time. So I don't want to sit there making sure everything I do is work-appropriate. So long as I keep myself available to do work, that's all that is asked.

 

[Ketchup]

Ah. So you don't do any personal activity on the network while connected to the VPN?

Not on the host machine, no. I have a personal vm with a separate line to the nic. There's also another vpn connection through another vm (as that one only goes to customer-specific locations), but that has little relevance to this conversation.

During a few months out of the year, I am helping with remote support from home on weeknights and weekends, after my regular work hours. I am definitely doing whatever I would normally do afterwork, the exception being little to no game-playing at this time. So I don't want to sit there making sure everything I do is work-appropriate. So long as I keep myself available to do work, that's all that is asked.

Oh yeah, the kids are on this one a lot when I am not working. And I can always switch over to the work laptop. The desktop is just faster, so why not?