VMware Shared Folders Vanish After Reboot – Fix

Quick answer

Open Registry Editor, go to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vmhgfs, set Start to 2 (AUTO_START), and reboot. Done.

Why this happens

You install VMware Tools, set up shared folders, and everything works fine. Then you restart your Windows VM, and poof – the shared drives are gone. It's not your fault, and it's not a bug. The problem is that VMware's vmhgfs driver (the one that makes shared folders work) is set to load manually after installation. Windows doesn't start it automatically when the VM boots. So shared folders are there, but the driver that connects them to your file system isn't running.

I've seen this on Windows 10, Windows 11, and even Windows Server VMs. It's the same story every time. VMware Tools installs the driver with a startup type of 3 (manual), not 2 (automatic). You need to change that.

Fix steps

These steps work for VMware Workstation 15/16/17 and VMware Player. I've done this hundreds of times.

1. Open Registry Editor. Press Win + R, type regedit, hit Enter. Click Yes if User Account Control asks.
2. Go to the vmhgfs key. In the left panel, navigate to:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vmhgfs
3. Find the Start value. In the right panel, look for a value named Start. It's a DWORD (32-bit) type. Double-click it.
4. Change the value. Set the data to 2. Make sure the base is Hexadecimal (it usually is). Click OK.
5. Exit Registry Editor. Close the window.
6. Reboot your VM. Not the host – just the virtual machine. After it comes back up, open File Explorer and look for the shared folders under Network Locations or This PC. They should be there.

Expected result after reboot: You'll see your shared folders mapped to drive letters like Z: or appear under Network Locations. If they don't show up, check that shared folders are enabled in your VM settings (right-click the VM tab > Settings > Options > Shared Folders > Always enabled).

Alternative fix – Command line

If you don't want to use Registry Editor, you can do the same thing with a command. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

sc config vmhgfs start= auto

Then restart the service manually:

net start vmhgfs

After that, reboot. Same result.

What if the main fix doesn't work?

Sometimes the vmhgfs key isn't there at all. That means VMware Tools didn't install the driver correctly. Here's what to do:

• Reinstall VMware Tools. In your VM menu, click VM > Reinstall VMware Tools. Let it run through the setup. Reboot after it finishes. Then apply the registry fix above.
• Check Windows updates. I've seen old builds of Windows 10 22H2 block the driver from loading. Run Windows Update, install everything, reboot, then reinstall VMware Tools.
• Try an older VMware Tools version. If you're on a very new Windows 11 build (like 23H2 or 24H2), the latest VMware Tools might have issues. Go to the VMware download site, grab version 12.3.5 or 12.4.0, and install that instead. I've had better luck with those.

Prevention tip

After you fix this once, it stays fixed. But if you ever reinstall VMware Tools (like after a major Windows update), it will reset the Start value back to 3. So keep a note of this fix, or better yet, save a small .reg file you can double-click to reapply it. Create a text file with this content:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vmhgfs]
"Start"=dword:00000002

Save it as vmhgfs-fix.reg. When you need it, right-click it, choose Merge, confirm, and reboot. Takes 10 seconds.

One more thing: don't bother trying to set the startup type through Services.msc. The vmhgfs service doesn't show up there. That's why everyone gets stuck. The registry is the only way to fix it.