Enable Clipboard Copy and Paste in vSphere

Starting with vSphere 4.1, the Copy and Paste options are, by default, disabled for security reasons.

To enable this option for a specific virtual machine:

1. Log into a vCenter Server system using the vSphere Client and power off the virtual machine.
2. Select the virtual machine and click the Summary tab.
3. Click Edit Settings.
4. Navigate to Options > Advanced > General and click Configuration Parameters.
5. Click Add Row.
6. Type these values in the Name and Value columns:
• isolation.tools.copy.disable – false
• isolation.tools.paste.disable – false

Note: These options override any settings made in the VMware Tools control panel of the guest operating system.

7. Click OK to close the Configuration Parameters dialog, and click OK again to close the Virtual Machine Properties dialog.
8. Power on the virtual machine.

Note: If you vMotion a virtual machine to a host where the isolation.tools.*="FALSE" is already set, the copy and paste options are automatically activated for that virtual machine.

To enable this option for all the virtual machines in the ESX/ESXi host:

1. Log in to the ESX/ESXi host as a root user and open the /etc/vmware/config file using a text editor.
2. Add these entries to the file:
   
   isolation.tools.copy.disable="FALSE"
   isolation.tools.paste.disable="FALSE"

Save and close the file.

The Copy and Paste options are only enabled when the virtual machines restart or resume the next time.