VMware Player "Bridged" networking no longer works - host=win8.1 guest=Mint 17 Linux

Basic background tech info:

Host: Windows 8.1
Guest: Linux Mint 17
VMWare Player version: 6.0.3 build-1895310
Host hardware: ASUS Laptop with broadcomm wifi chipset

In the past (earlier versions of Linux Mint, and earlier versions of VMWare Player), I could switch networking between NAT and Bridged, and both would work as expected. I settled on NAT. Recently, I had need to switch to Bridged, and the guest Linux OS failed to connect. Switch back to NAT, and everything reconnects and works fine.

I've updated VMWare Tools in the guest OS, with no effect. Alas, I don't know which Mint upgrade, or VMWare Player upgrade broke the functionality, or when.

Variations of this question seem to crop up frequently, but none of the questions I've read here on Superuser seem to directly address, or offer a fix for, this problem.

Happy to provide logfiles or other info to help debug the issue. Just let me know what you need. Since I can use NAT as a work-around, this isn't urgent. However, I'd like to understand what's wrong and fix it.

Thanks.

JesseM

Posted 2014-09-11T04:32:05.760

Reputation: 682

Answers

Found a solution for my version of the problem. Hope it helps someone else.

Previously, I had been using VirtualBox. Switching over to VMWare (using NAT) worked just fine, but VirtualBox had left a host-only adapter in Windows Networking, which was (silently) making "bridged" mode in VMWare not work.

I hit a similar issue installing "boot2docker" (which uses VirtualBox) on an other machine which had VMWare working, which then stopped after installing "boot2docker". Diagnosis of that led me to VirtualBox being the culprit.

SOLUTON:

On the windows host, go to Networking Connections, and "disable" any VirtualBox network entries there. Your "Bridged" VMWare connections will start working again.

JesseM

Posted 2014-09-11T04:32:05.760

Reputation: 682

There is another, not so 'brutal' approach to fixing this. This has bit me more than once. Go to the VMWare Virtual Network Editor, and in the VMNet Information section for "Bridged", pull the drop down "Bridged to:" and change from Automatic to your physical adapter name. This allows both VMWare and VirtualBox to play together on the same host. (I'm surprised that VMWare does not detect this where the host has more than 1 VM application installed)

Robert Daniels

Posted 2014-09-11T04:32:05.760

Reputation: 301

a simple solution that worked for me as well – iBabur – 2015-03-30T11:04:40.820

I am so glad that i found this answer! I completely forgot that i have installed virtualBox and i noticed that after a few restarts I could use my bridged network. Thanks! – Slava Babin – 2017-07-11T18:02:50.287

You don't have to disable the VirtualBox adapters in Windows. You can fix this within VMWare Player directly. Go into your VM Network settings, select Bridged, and then click the Configure Adapters button. Uncheck "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter".

This will fix your problem and leave the VirtualBox adapters functional in Windows so that you can use both VB and VMWare on the same system without having to constantly switch settings.

Mike

Posted 2014-09-11T04:32:05.760

Reputation: 61

The only thing that fixed my connection was to add another network adapter (NAT) on top of the existing one.

Manage -> Virtual Machine Settings -> Add -> Network Adapter -> Finish.

Pedro Leite

Posted 2014-09-11T04:32:05.760

Reputation: 31

I can confirm that I've had to do this exact thing a few times - it's almost like VMWare loses the connection to the virtual NIC on the host, and creating a new NIC on the guest reestablishes it. – Mikey T.K. – 2019-02-15T16:44:40.027

This actually worked – smac89 – 2019-02-24T22:14:17.383

I found that in VMware Player, there is no network editor. However, you can specify which adapter to bridge to, and that resolved the problem for me. In the screen below, both adapters were selected. De-select the Hyper-V, leaving only the physical adapter.

Leo

Posted 2014-09-11T04:32:05.760

Reputation: 467

I would also like to mention in addition to these answers that host Firewall Particularly Firewall Clients/Software (in my case AVG Firewall) may interfere with the Bridge adapter for Vmware, try disabling the firewall software

Z3R0_XP

Posted 2014-09-11T04:32:05.760

Reputation: 11

I have a similiar problem, and it was caused by that I have 2 network card(eth/wifi) on my host and both connected to internet. When I disabled one, the problem was gone.

Cliff

Posted 2014-09-11T04:32:05.760

Reputation: 1

On my installation it was an installation of npcap (with wireshark) on the host that broke the virtual connections. Going into vmware network config and disabling the npcap adapter for the vm restored the connection

rob

Posted 2014-09-11T04:32:05.760

Reputation: 1

In VMWare Workstation Player, I had to do two things:

1) In my Windows network adapter options, under Properties for the adapter I use to connect to the LAN, I had to make sure the VMWare Bridge Protocol box was checked.

2) In the VMWare Network Adapter settings, as others have mentioned, make sure the only adapter checked in Configure Adapters is the adapter you are using to connect to the LAN.

After doing those two things, I restarted my computer and then my VM and the network connected successfully. Hope this helps!

Brett McMillian

Posted 2014-09-11T04:32:05.760

Reputation: 1

In my case it turned out to be a confused router, just needed to unplug/replug power. This after trying all of the above heh. I noticed going to the routers admin page wasn't working that's when I unplugged it and reboot, then bridged networking came back to life! so check that too...

colin lamarre

Posted 2014-09-11T04:32:05.760

Reputation: 171

-1

I was using a bridged connection for a Kubuntu VM. It suddenly stopped working, no idea why. I fixed it by entering the console command "nmcli networking on".

I have absolutely no idea why this worked.

Josh Porter

Posted 2014-09-11T04:32:05.760

Reputation: 1

1You make it sound like you pressed random keys and they happened to spell "nmcli networking on", and magically, it worked. Surely, you had some reason to try that command. – fixer1234 – 2019-01-27T23:33:28.337

2I was in a 6 hour daze trying to fix this by typing in random c**p from stackexchange, sweating with desperation. I entered a fugue state and woke naked in a field with my laptop's VM connection fixed and the command "nmcli networking on" written in twigs next to me. – Josh Porter – 2019-03-10T16:16:34.137