VMware Communities: Message List - Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

lunariver — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:21:59 GMT

I got 1 problem and 1 question when I'm trying this solution on my mbp: snow leopard + vmware fusion 2.0.5 + windows xp sp1

Problem: After I disable/enable the NIC, the IP address is not like the pic in your document, my submask is always 255.255.0.0, not your 255.255.255.0, I'm not sure if this is important, however, I tried to ping xp from mac, it's ok, does this mean the network between mac&xp is ok? however, when I try to ping a internet website or open safari, it just showed no internet connection. Of course, I selet the ICS already. It seems the ICS doesn't set anything on the VMware accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter right, is there any manual method to assure this work?

Question: It is the mac that first to setup the wifi network, why it is said in your document that the xp is the DHCP server, not mac?

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

gilroykilroy — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:34:36 GMT

1) VMWare is set to bridged.
2) My cell phone does create a LAN connection (I am able to connect to the internet from within Windows XP)
3) The LAN connections is set as shared.
4) There is NO VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter in the Network Connection control panel.
5) I did create a Computer-to-Computer Airport connect.
6) This connection never gets a valid IP address, always self assigned no matter how long I wait and/or try to renew the DHCP lease.

I don't know what else to say or do. Sorry. All the latest VMWare Tools are installed in my guest so I don't know where you got this "VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter". I tried re-installing the tools and when I select "Modify" there is no mention of this driver either.

There is an "AMD PCNET Family PCI Ethernet" LAN connection. It keeps saying "cable unplugged" when I try to enable that connection.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:43:16 GMT

Please don't take the the wrong way but you obvious just aren't getting it! The whole point of the document I wrote was to provide a software based solution using the hardware that was already present on the Mac and gain Internet Connectivity on the Host via the Internet Conductivity on the Guest and that has to be provided with the addition of some external hardware source and while I did use a physical Belkin 54g WiFi USB Network Adapter to provide the Guest's Internet Connectivity to create the document and provide proof of concept however I also have just tested it using a Mobil Broadband USB Modem as stated in my latest reply and it too worked and while I'm at it I'll also state that it works with a third device I've used and that's my Cell Phone used as a USB Modem connected to the Virtual Machine.

So I'm not sure why you're not getting the picture correctly but one can gain Internet Connectivity on the Host via the Guest's Internet Connectivity if one follows the general steps while substituting explicit/specific steps for the device you're using and that device need to be ICS capable. This has worked for me in OS X Tiger, Leopard and now Snow Leopard as well as VMware Fusion 1.x, 2.x and 3.0 and in Windows XP and Windows Vista using either a Belkin 54g WiFi USB Network Adapter, Mobil Broadband USB Modem or my Cell Phone used as a USB Modem each of which while connected to the Virtual Machine. I haven't tried it with Windows 7 yet but I see no obvious reason why it would not work with it as well.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

gilroykilroy — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:18:57 GMT

I took what you said as "I used the Belkin adapter software to bridge through from Windows to the Mac", not as "you need some actual hardware to bridge from Windows to the Mac."

So, is there a software ONLY solution (no cables, no adapters, etc.) to this? Perhaps in VMWare 3.0?

Thanks.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:04:23 GMT

Why would you download the Belkin Software and try using it if you don't have the Belkin Hardware to go with it? Of course it's not going to show up if the hardware isn't there and it was just used as an example of one way to do this and you need to be substituting the ICS capable Device that your using not what I used as proof of concept.

Your document didn't indicate the actual hardware was necessary. I thought it was simply a way to connect to the airport.

While I didn't explicitly and specifically state that in the document itself nonetheless in the opening post of this thread I did state...

"While the information presented in this document was written on Mac OS X Tiger and VMware Fusion Windows XP Pro Virtual Machine using a Belkin 54g WiFi USB Network Adapter to provide the Guest's Internet Connectivity the foundation and general directions presented should work on any Device that Internet Connection Sharing can be enabled on. It should also work with Mac OS X Leopard and or Microsoft Windows Vista as well although the graphics and explicit directions would vary."

The keywords of course "using a Belkin 54g WiFi USB Network Adapter to provide the Guest's Internet Connectivity"...

So I have to say I fail to see how one could be confused by what I said or the directions in the pdf document. The bottom line is obviously if one is not using exactly what I have used then one needs to make the appropriate substitutions while using the context of the overall steps to fit ones own situation and this is typical and quite normal with directions that are written with specifics for what one has to test with and to show proof of concept and don't forget another key part of what I said and that being...

"... the foundation and general directions presented should work on any Device that Internet Connection Sharing can be enabled on. ..."

Assuming you're enabling ICS on the Target Device (not the driver) then answer the first two question so I can see about generating more current directions.

I went into Network control panel, selected the phone's LAN connection, then Properties, Advanced, Share.

If by that you've enable Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) on the target Device then assuming you've followed the directions correctly it should work.

==========

Okay I had a little time to take a look at this and just so you know there are known issues with Apple’s built-in AirPort under OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 that hopefully will be corrected in 10.6.2 since these issues were not addressed in the 10.6.1 update. That said I was still able to follow the directions in my document to enable the Host to use the Guest’s Internet Connection and it didn’t require doing anything other then what is described in the document and with the exception of the AirPort icon not turning black after connecting and receiving an IP Address from the Windows ICS DHCP Server otherwise it just worked as described. Of course the dialog boxes surrounding the creation of the Computer-to-Computer after clicking Create Network… on the AirPort icon was a bit different between Tiger, when the document was created, and Snow Leopard but the basic steps as described and adjusted for the OS versions idiosyncratic differences just worked.

I also tested using a Mobil Broadband USB Modem while enabling ICS on it and it too worked and again except for the now noted exception of the AirPort icon described previously.

Also note that it did take a little time, I think less then 30 seconds, for OS X to acquire the IP Address from the Windows ICS DHCP Server and showed the typical self assigned one at first however it did automatically acquire a valid IP Address and I was capable of connecting to the Internet on the Host via the Mobil Broadband USB Modem on the Guest.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

gilroykilroy — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:08:57 GMT

WoodyZ wrote:
What version of VMware Fusion are you using?

2.0.6

What Windows OS are you using?

Your document didn't indicate the actual hardware was necessary. I thought it was simply a way to connect to the airport.

Assuming you're enabling ICS on the Target Device (not the driver) then answer the first two question so I can see about generating more current directions.

I went into Network control panel, selected the phone's LAN connection, then Properties, Advanced, Share.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:00:43 GMT

What version of VMware Fusion are you using?

What Windows OS are you using?

Why would you download the Belkin Software and try using it if you don't have the Belkin Hardware to go with it? Of course it's not going to show up if the hardware isn't there and it was just used as an example of one way to do this and you need to be substituting the ICS capable Device that your using not what I used as proof of concept.

Assuming you're enabling ICS on the Target Device (not the driver) then answer the first two question so I can see about generating more current directions.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

gilroykilroy — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:38:36 GMT

I hate to resurrect an old horse but it seems I need to do this (my cell phone has internet sharing only through windows and not the Mac.)

I can select this phones driver and enable sharing. However I can't see it on the Mac side. When I try creating an adhoc AirPort network the icon remains gray with a gray computer inside (not black like the document has.) I am using Snow Leopard.

I downloaded the Belkin software and that never shows up as device in the Networks control panel (for that matter neither does the VMWare Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter that is mentioned as well.)

Since these instructions are pretty old perhaps something has changed with Snow Leopard? I assume no additional hardware is involved here (like an actual Belkin adapter)?

Thanks.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

bradcapo2 — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:00:24 GMT

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Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:37:39 GMT

It may be doable through software emulation however I've not had the need to do it on a Mac that way and have done in on Windows with a software loopback adapter and and also with just a RJ-45 plug wired as a loopback but the plug doesn't work on Mac's. So you certainly can try a software approach and then you'd know whether or not or what was needed however I just don't have the time to mess around with the software at the links you posted, sorry. Good luck.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

Gregoli — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:22:36 GMT

Unfortunatelly not, i was just thinking that it's possible inside OS, using software emulating device, or something like that. Thanks for your help. And have nice rest of the day.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:16:31 GMT

Do you have a CAT5 patch cable and a old hub or switch laying around? You can use that to make the Ethernet Adapter active and then you should be able to connect via the VMware Virtual Network Infrastructure to accomplish this. This is of course you're able to use ICS on whatever your using to connect to the Internet on the Guest.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

Gregoli — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:10:21 GMT

iMac 8,1

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:05:02 GMT

Also my document uses the internal AirPort not an external AirPort. What type of Mac do you have?

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

Gregoli — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:00:33 GMT

because it's toasted, i'm going to buy adsl router next week anyway, and end of this crappy modem will be spectacular

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:50:35 GMT

Why can't you use the Airport?

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

Gregoli — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:37:09 GMT

No, I'm talking about software loopback, virtual network devices, bridging, etc. to trick system/physical device into active link availability (as active link is needed to fulfill how-to provided in pdf above and i can't use airport method). I was checking this software http://www.sustworks.com/site/prod_ipnrx_overview.html it have tons of options, bridging of devices, but it's to complicated for me.

Thanks for help already provided

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

trishwalden — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:32:50 GMT

Hey Woody!
How goes computing???

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

Gregoli — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:04:10 GMT

would it be possible to create active link with loopback adapter , this way? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/87442/virtual-network-interface-in-mac-os-x
without airport tricks?

or with tuntap? http://tuntaposx.sourceforge.net/index.xhtml

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:48:54 GMT

If you are talking about a hardware loopback adapter such as a basic RJ45 plug wired to loopback then no because Ethernet Adapters on a Mac use autosensing and as such will not show as active in this scenario.

If you'd provide detailed information on what you have and what your trying to accomplish I'll take a look at it. Have a look at: HOWTO: Ask (and Answer) Questions

Re: Installing VM Fusion on another computer

trishwalden — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:14:13 GMT

wish i could. I have not experienced this, so post this to the blog
and see who can help. good luck

Installing VM Fusion on another computer

YumaMel — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:50:39 GMT

I am asking you because you seem to know this software very well. I have fusion on my macbook. I now want to install it on a new desktop. When I use the installation cd it does not load the toolbox and when the library comes up it does not give me the option of choosing Boot Camp Partition. I use a mac because it is so easy and I had no trouble with the first installation. Can you give me some insight as to what I am doing wrong? Thanks.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

trishwalden — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:42:28 GMT

Woodyz,

You are truly the guru. I have suddenly lost my connection to my mac host. Windows shows the internet working on the windows side, but ie won't open saying it cannot see the server.

The mac computer can get on the net fine.

This is a sudden occurrance, I do use AVG professional and have not, to it's knowledge, had any nasty intrustions. So how to get the conversation going between machines again?

I run a mac book pro with Leopard; and xp home edition.

Must have ie because my real estate back office cannot operate properly with safari.....or firefox.

Can you help?

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

scoophk — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:26:57 GMT

This tutorial is amazing - I was all braced for failure and troubleshooting when I hit that section in your PDF - but no - I was able to connect my Mac through my Sprint phone as a modem - AMAZING - Thank you!!

One small problem left to solve - something I did before I got to your tutorial has stopped my vmware PC from using my Mac's wireless connection. Any ideas? Have gone back into the Network Connections setting and tried all options there - haven' t tried a restart which I will do now and report back if it is successful...

: (

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:59:10 GMT

neilinnz wrote: The document suggests it's possible without any other hardware

The document does not suggest that because it requires that you have an Internet Connection in the Virtual Machine that you can enable ICS on.

but the instructions have a USB Wifi connected too.

Yes it does as that is an example of how one could have an Internet Connection that originated in the Guest and is capable of ICS and thus being used by the Host as well.

It is not unusual for a VPN connection to disable the ability to access other LAN Resources while the VPN is established so I can't answer it for you other then to say that if the VPN connection allows ICS and Split Tunneling then I would think it's possible however you should talk to your Network Administrator to see if what you want to do is permissible.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

neilinnz — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:06:38 GMT

OK, I'm not sure it's possible in my case then. Was worth a try.

Thanks for your replies and help.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

neilinnz — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:38:24 GMT

What I am trying to do is use the VPN connection I have in Windows XP (in virtual machine) thru the host OS X.

I have a virtual machine of XP, bridged to OS X and connected to the internet using ethernet via a hub. Can I possibly connect to my vpn in windows XP and somehow also use that VPN connection from within OS X? The document suggests it's possible without any other hardware but the instructions have a USB Wifi connected too.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:18:59 GMT

What is it that you're trying to do? This thread and the accompaning document is for being able to share an Internet Conection in the Guest with OS X when OS X doesn't have it itself. Is that what your looking to do? If so how are you providing Internet Access in the Guest while the Host doesn't have it?

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

neilinnz — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:31:14 GMT

Can I just ask a question as I can't work out how to get this working.

I have an iMac with built in Ethernet and Wifi.

I am running a Windows XP virtual machine with bridged networking. Within the virtual XP machine I only have Local Area Connection under my network connections. Do I have to have some other USB connected device, either Wifi or ethernet in order to get this to work? I can't see how XP can have Local Area Connection AND wireless without a USB device. Without any further hardware (like the document suggests) how do you get a second connection within XP?

The ethernet is connected to a LAN and my Wifi is normally off but I can use it for this purpose if necessary.

Thanks, Neil

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

FreakyChokra — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:09:38 GMT

Hi Woody.

Your guide is really a pretty simple n straight-forward to follow through guide while implementing on normal hardware.

But I humbly request your guidance in my really unique n kinda looping problem. May you please help me, please?

I'm tired of running Windows. Bugs, viruses (actually virii, but ..u know), bloatware... Yet so far I've not eXPerienced (pun intended!) anything that can make my life easier than otherwise.
Hence, I just switched to a Mac Pro with Leopard, which is currently updated to 10.5.6 n working A-OK!

But where I reside, I've no other ISP but one who gives me net access over LAN, but using PPPoE.
Now, if only that was something, then Mac was never a problem as Mac has a built-in dialer for PPPoE.

But its a dialer program we need installed and running that gives us access n monitors the Hours/MB usage, etc.
N he doesn't have any support for Mac or Linux or any other OS.

So, I've come this far to dialing to connect via Windows SuXP on my Mac Pro. Xp is installed in VMWare Fusion Version 2.0.1 (128865).

My rig is like this:

OS X 10.5.6 using VMware Fusion 2
Microsoft Windows XP SP2 VMware Fusion Virtual Machine
Active* Network Connection in OS X Host, which is configured in Bridge mode for Win XP.

There are 2 things:

A) The login name/password is locked to the MAC id of the LAN/NIC. --> I've fixed this using MAC spoofing in WinXP in the device properties of the onboard NIC.
B) As much networking I understand, I need to make the XP VM as gateway for OSX. so I've tried setting its (PPPoE) dialup connection with Internet Connection Sharing (ICS).

Tried specifying the XP network IP (192.168.0.1) as DNS, GATEWAY, ROUTER, PROXY (under proxy configuration), etc.
But the thing is when I load safari or firefox, the page keeps waiting endlessly but there is no data transfer between the 2 machines/ OSes! ;(

For Proxies, I installed Proxy+ in Windows and gave it a shot. Prior to Proxy+ used WinGate which was quite complicated for me n hence, I chucked it

Now, can U suggest me something by which I can redirect the complete internet bandwidth to Mac,
as I would then have Windows running nothing else but only as a Internet Gateway server for Mac.

Hoping to hear from you soon.

-Regards,
Freak Chokra

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

davelong9050 — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 23:44:30 GMT

WoodyZ,

Sorry I missed your call.

Down to Printer Pass Through and any other performance improvements that might come up.

Dave

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

alex999 — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:05:37 GMT

OK, I need to access a VPN which only works in XP, and therefore want to share this connection back to the MAC.
I have one VM for XP. I run Fusion 2.0.1.
I connect to my LAN using the wireless airport DHCP connection, the LAN connects me to the Internet using a router.
I have a USB Ethernet adapter setup in XP.
Now, how can I share my XP LAN connection back into the MAC so that I can use the VPN connection?
I think this is what you described but with a wireless usb adapter.
Any help is more than welcome here.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:42:37 GMT

I know what this thread is about since I'm the one that started it and wrote the directions however forgive me if the sounds like a dumb question what are you trying to do? Now the reason I asked that is because you've jumped into the thread with a issue/problem/question whatever and not only didn't express accurately what you originally said but really haven included all of the particulars which of course make it harder to provide an explicit and specif solution based on what you're trying to do that is different then what I presented in my document. So all I can say without knowing all of the particulars is read and follow the document making the appropriate substitutions and the key here is appropriate substitutions otherwise provide the appropriate information to have a clear and complete understanding of the topology of the network connections your trying to make. Have a look a HOWTO: Ask (and Answer) Questions as a guideline.

If your looping back the USB Nic to the BMP's Ethernet Adapter what are trying to achieve? How and with what are you connecting to the Internet and is it on the Host or the Guest? How are all the relevant devices configured etc, etc... Need information to process a solution to whatever it is your trying to do that you've yet to clearly express.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

alex999 — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:54:03 GMT

I am using one Ethernet USB adapter with an Ethernet cable connecting the usb one defined only in Windows and the port on the MBP, this is what I meant by loopback.
What do you suggest to do exactly?

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:49:11 GMT

alex999 wrote: I am trying to do this as well with the 2.0 and loopback Ethernet cables

You cannot use a loopback device because Mac's Ethernet Adapter uses auto-sensing technology and in turn you are just nullifying the connection by using a loopback.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

alex999 — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:16:59 GMT

I am trying to do this as well with the 2.0 and loopback Ethernet cables, and it just does not work since as soon as the ICS connection is up the Internet connection (VMWare interface) drops and comes back trigerring dhcp which never completes.
Has someone configured this with Fusion 2.0 already? If so, can you post a configuration example please?
Thanks

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

Philip Saunders — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:46:37 GMT

I've just been trying to implement this HOWTO and can't.

Here's my situation: my company won't provide a VPN that works on our Macs. So one idea I had was to run the approved VPN in a virtual windows environment and bridge that back to the Mac host OS. Found this thread, figured I had it knocked.

But. On a MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5.4, VMWare Fusion 1.1.3/XPProSP2, the Wireless never shows up in the Network Connections; and even if it did, our Active Directory Group Policy disables ICS.

So I need a way to do this purely within VMWare and the Mac OS. By adding Virtual Interfaces, perhaps? I see the white paper on how to do that; but then a recipe for doing this reverse-bridge will be needed.

Thank you for this wonderful resource.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:45:25 GMT

edrons wrote: hello!! Seems a great tool, but i got a Vista VM on my Mac how can i do this please ?

The document I wrote is specifically for Windows XP however using it as a guideline in conjunction with how Windows Vista handles ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) one should be able to utilize a Guest's Internet Connection in a similar manner as described in my document.

Look in the Windows Vista Help Files for ICS (Internet Connection Sharing).

Also here are a couple of links on the topic from Microsoft's web site.

Windows Help and How-to - Change Internet settings for ICS (Internet Connection Sharing)

Windows Help and How-to - Using ICS (Internet Connection Sharing)

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

edrons — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:00:07 GMT

hello!! Seems a great tool, but

i got a Vista VM on my Mac

how can i do this please ?

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

uruiamme — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 06:53:43 GMT

Sort of Yup. I have put Fusion through its courses over the last 2 months I have been using it. Let me tell you... this was technically silly but it worked for me fine, and unbelievably simple.

So my situation was similar. I went out with my MacBook Pro laptop on a little excursion for a week. I knew I would be staying where the Internet was only available on dial-up. So I wanted to try out a new Kyocera EVDO card from Alltel. It uses the cellular network for connection and it is pretty fast. KPC680. It is an Express Card that fits into a MBP, but they only have Windows (modem) drivers for it. If I had been using a USB adapter, the problem I describe below would have been solved without issue since there is a Mac driver for that.

Well I had been running BootCamp, but I was evaluating Fusion and so I was running Mac OS X Tiger and Windows XP Pro in a vm window. I plugged in the card so Windows would have Internet access. Now how do I feed it back to Mac? Well, I had picked up a "just in case" USB-to-Ethernet adapter along the way from eBay for under $10. I dug it out, installed the driver for it in WINDOWS while running Fusion, and then I shared my new Ethernet interface using ICS. This was my first time to successfully use ICS in many years -- I generally have found it ridiculously worthless in most networks. But it worked here like a champ.

All I had to do is plug in a short Ethernet cable (I had a 12" cable) from the dongle to my Mac's Ethernet port and tell the Mac to do DHCP on it. This worked as good as I needed for it to. I felt stupid having a "loopback" cable on my laptop, but for all its stupid looks it made Mac OS X happy to get Internet access. Haha, it would have been funnier if I had plugged in the USB dongle onto the left side, used a long cable to wrap around the back of the laptop, and plugged it into the right. Would have made for an interesting conversation in a public place.

This can be done a lot of different ways... whether it is a modem or whatever. As long as you are forced to use a Windows driver, then you just tell Fusion to "connect" the incompatible device to your VM, plug in a USB-to-Ethernet, and use ICS and DHCP to get you Mac on your PC network. Incidentally, the same could be done with wireless to PC to USB to Ethernet to Mac... in some situations (like old WiFi-802.11b) I found that the Windows wireless driver is better than the Mac! You could also utilize a Linux driver for an obscure piece of networking hardware if Linux is your VM.

Bonus points if you use a Firewire-to-Ethernet or some other bazaar loopback like bluetooth.

So this should work for VPNs... If your VPN is on a LAN ... I might propose this method: Use a USB-to-LAN adapter to plug in directly to your WINDOWS VM. Do your VPN in Windows. Now, use the PDF document as a guide to use your own wireless to feed VPN traffic to the Mac OR use a second USB-to-LAN adapter. Obviously this would eat up 2 USB ports and devices. But maybe you could get VMware Fusion to carrry traffic from Windows to Mac on the virtual LAN connection.

If your VPN is on Wireless... I would do this: use the Airport on the Mac side, and use NAT mode? (I think) to bring in your nertwork to Windows VM. Do your VPN there. Now, feed it back to Mac using a USB-to-LAN adapter and plug it into your Mac's LAN jack, use DHCP and possibly use a manual setting to get the Mac side to see the correct DNS server and gateway. If having two hot connections on the Mac side is too difficult for routing and all, then buy a USB-to-WiFi adapter and bring in the VPN to Windows first as above.

I hope you are a network pro and tell us how it's done!

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 07:21:25 GMT

uruiamme wrote:

Bonus points if you use a Firewire-to-Ethernet or some other bazaar loopback like bluetooth or WiFi! I would be really impressed if someone did this with WiFi or if it still worked in Vista Home Premie.

On a MBP or any Mac that has an AirPort built-in you do not need to use a USB to Ethernet and cable it back to the Mac's ethernet port as you can simply use the Mac's AirPort as describe in the document I wrote to accomplish the same thing without additional hardware. Although also as described in my document anything that gives you active link status is all that required to create the loopback and certainly what your done fulfills that requirement. Although the main point I wanted to make is it can be done with nothing more that the Notebook and the ICS Shared Device because I far as I know all Intel based Mac Notebooks have a built-in AirPort.

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

jbfryman — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:08:12 GMT

I'm actually interested in doing something a bit more elaborate. I travel a lot, and it's somewhat cumbersome to deal with the problems that come with that. My Mac always connects to local networks easily (wireless or wired, it varies based on location), but I need to run VPN software that is Windows-only. So I wind up with (Internet) -> Mac -> Fusion VM -> VPN.

The VPN connection works fine, but I'd like to feed that back to the Mac so my Mac apps can then use the VPN. So what I'd like to do is define a second NIC in Fusion, do Windows ICS across that, and have the Mac redirect my local apps through this virtual nic channel.

Has anyone tried this? I can't seem to make the Mac talk to the second NIC I defined directly. For security purposes, I wanted to make it Host-Only on the second NIC . . . but I'd settle for any solution at this point. I need to point Entourage or Safari/Firefox at this second virtual NIC. I can't trick the VM by re-using the wireless as I sometimes need that to reach the Internet.

Thoughts?

Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

WoodyZ — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:47:39 GMT

Sometime Users may find themselves in a position that they need to share the Windows XP Guest Virtual Machine’s Internet Connection with the Mac OS X Host and this document will show one of the ways it can be accomplished.

Requirements

OS X 10.4.9 or Higher
VMware Fusion 1.0 or Higher
Microsoft Windows XP SP2 VMware Fusion Virtual Machine
Internet Connectivity from within the XP Guest Virtual Machine.
Active* Network Connection in OS X Host.

While the information presented in this document was written on Mac OS X Tiger and VMware Fusion Windows XP Pro Virtual Machine using a Belkin 54g WiFi USB Network Adapter to provide the Guest's Internet Connectivity the foundation and general directions presented should work on any Device that Internet Connection Sharing can be enabled on. It should also work with Mac OS X Leopard and or Microsoft Windows Vista as well although the graphics and explisit directions would vary.

"*" See comments in document for asterisk reference.

File Attached: Share_Windows_XP_Guest_Internet_Connection_with_OS_X_Host_HOWTO.pdf

Re: Share Windows XP Guest Internet Connection with OS X Host HOWTO

etung — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:30:23 GMT

Thanks for doing this! I added a link from the Power User's Guide to this thread.