Did you release/renew the IP Address after making the switch?

Have a look at: Understanding Networking in VMware Fusion

What is providing the IP Address to the Host? Also just set the VM to bridged while it's shutdown, not suspended and then reboot the Host as well and then reload the VM and see if it get an address assigned to it however that assuming you have a DHCP Server on the LAN.

You answered my question partly in that you said your accessing the Internet through an Ethernet connection via a DSL modem however when trying to troubleshoot a network connectivity issue one need to be very explicit and specific and while a statement like "I'm currently accessing the internet through an ethernet connection via a DSL modem" covers some of it, it doesn't cover all of it.

In other words "DSL Modem" without providing manufacture make/model/version leaves it to be generic and not all DSL Modems are equal and or provide the exact same configuration options and services.

Example: My ISP uses a DSL Modem that has no UI and as such requires a PPPoE Network Connection setup in the OS with a User Name and Password and the IP Address assigned to the Host (MBP) is provided by my ISP's DHCP Server and provides only one IP Address through the DSL Modem to whatever I connect to the DSL Modem. This means if it's connected directly to my MBP I can't run my Virtual Machines configured with a Bridged Network and must use a NAT Network to get to the Internet or LAN. However if I plug a Router into the DSL Modem then Router provides the PPPoE Authentication and incorporates it's own DHCP Server so I can then use the one Public IP Address provided by the DSL Modem for the WAN Port on the Router and serve Private IP Address to my LAN thus allowing all physical and virtual computers on my LAN to receive IP Address and as such the Virtual Machines can use Bridged Networking.

Some Networking Devices incorporate both the DSL Modem and Router functionality.

Also some Routers will not serve IP Address to Virtual Machine using Bridged Network because of MAC Address restrictions outside of the control of the User Configurable MAC Address Exclusions/Inclusions although that's not the case for most of them.

So depending on your actual Network Topology and ISP Requirements involved then the only thing I can say is if you literally connect directly to a DSL Modem that only provides 1 Public IP Address and no NATed DHCP Services then you will need to run your Virtual Machines with the default NAT Network.

You can still use a router between whatever your plugging into and your computer if you have the need.

Hi, WoodyZ,
I'm currently travelling in China. Here I'm using my MacBook Pro to access the Internet over a friend's PPPoE connection through an ADSL "modem" without a UI. It took me a while to discover that my XP VM could access the Internet using a Fusion network adapter set up for NAT. When set up as bridged, the network adapter would not work. I got the error message, "The network bridge on device /dev/vmnet0 is not running" from Fusion.

It is still not clear to me why PPPoE will not work with a bridged network adapter. You wrote that the "ISP's DHCP Server ... provides only one IP Address through the DSL Modem to whatever I connect to the DSL Modem." But I thought that bridging a network adapter means that it uses the same physical hardware (aka NIC) as another network adapter. If that's the case, then it seems to me that both network adapters -- OS X's on the MBP and XP's on the XP VM -- must have the same IP address, right? Sorry, I can't test this right now, because I only have the PPPoE connection, and it won't allow a bridged network adapter to work.