How can a Virtualbox host connect to a guest VM when host wireless is disabled / host Ethernet cable is unplugged?

I have a Virtualbox VM running on a computer connected to Internet via an Ethernet cable. The guest has a network adapter attached to a NAT. 2 ports (22 and 80) are forwarded so that the host can access them respectively on localhost:2222 and localhost:8080.

When the Ethernet cable is plugged, both machine (host and guest) can access Internet and the host can access the SSH server/Webserver which ports are forwarded.

When I unplug the Ethernet cable from the host, the host can not access the SSH server/Webserver of the guest anymore. Same situation with a Laptop connected to Internet via wireless when I disable the wireless adapter or set a wrong WPA key.

My question is: is there a workaround for the host to access the guest services even if its Ethernet cable is unplugged / wireless is not available?

uloBasEI

Posted 2012-06-18T21:51:52.203

Reputation: 458

Answers

You can create a host-only interface, and assign IP addresses (one for host, and one for guest) and communicate via those addresses. It will be equal to having another ethernet card in your machines and a direct cable connection between them

more info

mulaz

Posted 2012-06-18T21:51:52.203

Reputation: 546

The host-only interface is solving the issue for the connection between host and guest. I have added a second network adapter (NAT) for the guest to have an access to Internet because a host-only interface does not provide access to the outside. If the Ethernet cable is unplugged, the guest loses the access to Internet, but the host can still communicate with the guest. Thank you again Mulaz! – uloBasEI – 2012-06-19T16:41:43.570