I was wondering why my VMware Shared Folder ( mounted as Z: ) wasn't available to my Windows 7 VM *BUT* only when opened a command-prompt as Administrator ( via Run As Administrator ).
When I logged into the VM, I did so as a non-administrative user.
As far as I can establish, under the covers, the Shared Folder is mounted ( using the native Windows Server Message Block - SMB - protocol / drive ).
It appears that this means that the drive ( Z: ) is only available to the logged-in user.
This may be a security feature - avoiding someone inadvertently installing something from a potentially insecure "network" drive …
However, the solution was easy, within the Administrator's command-prompt, I simply unmounted the original drive: -
net use z: /d
and then remounted it: -
net use Z: "\\vmware-host\Shared Folders"
Thanks to this: -
for the clue :-)