I am also experiencing performance problems when accessing shared folders with VMware Fusion 5 shared folders and Windows 7 client. In Windows Explorer the problem only last as long as the first access to a shared folder but in Winword.exe the problem is persistent every time I havigate to a new folder in the hierarchy. There is approximately a twenty second delay.
I attach the PERFMON log files filtered by vmware-host path for each of these scenarios.
This isssue makes using Windows 7 on Fusion 5 very painful, particularly if you are constantly editing office documents or navigating folders. There are many threads on topcs concerning slow access to shared folders and I have tried many solutions:
1. Removing anti virus software - NO EFFECT
2. Disabling compressed folder support in Windows - speeds up operation of EXPLORER.EXE after first use but does not solve this problem
3. Disabling support for SMB2/3 from Windows 7 - NO EFFECT
4. Changing TCP/IP settings to disable NETBIOS support - cannot find shared folders
5. isolation.tools.hgfs.notify.enable = "FALSE" - NO EFFECT
Happy to generate logs for any scenario you choose...