Vmware-tools have a kernel module for shared folders. On Ubuntu 14.04 the module compilation fails with something like "alias […] inode.c […] line 28". The fix is quite easy, here are the simple steps:

cd vmware-tools-distrib/lib/modules/source
tar -xvf vmhgfs.tar
cd vmhgfs-only
vim inode.c
":%s/d_alias/d_u.d_alias/g" (execute vim command inside editor, no quotes)
":wq!" (execute vim command)
cd ..
tar -cvf vmhgfs.tar vmhgfs-only

Now install vmware-tools normally, then shutdown and add a shared folder to your VM. After a new boot you should access your shared folder at /mnt/hgfs

source: vmware communities