Accessing windows folders in mac host

[Bree]

I apologize if this is a dense question, but I have search for a solution for hours now and am beyond frustrated. I have a Mac Mini with OS X 10.9.5 and am running Windows 7 in VB 4.3.26. I have installed guest additions and am able to view and access shared Mac host folders in my Windows guest machine with no problem. However, I cannot figured out how to access Windows guest folders in the Mac host. The guest machine does not show up anywhere in Finder.
Please help!

TYIA!

[scottgus1]

The guest additions don't pass guest folders to the host. You need to set up normal Windows shared folders in the guest, which means you need a network between the guest and host.

[Bree]

Great. Thanks for the reply. Can you provide some guidance on how to set up such a network?

[scottgus1]

The easiest one if you just want to connect the guest and the host would be host-only - See the manual, section 6.6. If you want other computers on your physical network to access the guest's folders, too, use Bridged, section 6.4.

[Bree]

Unfortunately, I am not having much luck with this either. I set up a bridge network and can now see my VM on the network list, but cannot access it without a user name and password. My username and password for our local network is not working.

[BillG]

How did you configure the guest? What username and password does it use to log on locally? Have you set file sharing on it?

[scottgus1]

I have a normal home network with Windows PCs. No office-style domains or anything. My Windows PCs require this info for accessing the shared folders from other PCs on the network: the PC name (which gets used when one enters "\\pcname\sharedfolder" to get to a desired shared folder; the user name of an account on the computer, and the password for the user, entered like this:

Username: pcname\username
Password: userpassword

The trick is the "pcname\" part. When I use that, I'm in every time.

If you have a Windows domain running and have attached the guest to the domain, the "pcname" gets replaced with the "domainname", as in "domainname\username".

You would use the guest's internal name (found on Windows 7 by opening the Start circle, then right-click "Computer", choose Properties, On the right side of the window, third section down "Computer name:") and the username and password you use when you start the guest and then log onto it. None of this info comes from your Mac network. (Note, if you have not set a password for the user account on the Windows guest you may not be able to share folders, Either use a password, then use Microsoft Sysinternals "Autologon" if you don't want to enter the password each time you start the guest, or google "Windows 7 share folders no password").