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I was trying to set up a virtual linux server (ubuntu) on a windows host using VMWare Workstation 12 Player. The point is to be able to access the server from my browser on windows. The tutorial I am using managed to connect to the guest at localhost (which I have been told is not possible) without much explanation.
I eventually figured it out by connecting via the network adapter ip rather than localhost. See my answer below.
**There are questions similar to this (with better solutions) but solutions for workstation 8 and below don't seem to apply.