Network adapter driver problem running Vista in Fusion 2.0 on Macbook Air

[EchoGecko]

VMware Fusion Version 2.0 (116369). Vista Ultimate SP1.

Macbook Air OS-X 10.5.5. VMware Tools is installed in Vista.

I'm having a problem finding the right driver for the network adapter in Vista. The adapter shows up in Device Manager as missing a driver, and will not work with the various Intel PRO driver suggested on these pages. I

Running ipconfig /all in command prompt reveals no network cards installed/working.

Network adapter is connected according to VMware and set up as NAT (not that it makes a difference at this point).

I've tried uninstalling the network adapter from Vista, disabling the network adapter through VMware, shutting down Vista, enabling network adapter in VMware, and loading Vista. The network adapter is found as new hardware, but no appropriate driver can be found.

I've been searching through quite a lot of discussions but haven't found a working solution yet, so I'd be grateful for some assistance!

Thanks in advance.

//Andreas

[WoodyZ]

You do not have to go thought installing each OS to end up at Vista. And even doing the installs right in a row will still produce a poorly built system as Windows always runs betted with a single clean install vers upgrading on top of an existing OS whether just installed or used for some time.

Unless Microsoft changed something you should be able to install Vista directly from the upgrade disc. Have a look at: How to Clean Install Windows Vista with Upgrade Media

[rmdegennaro]

Hello everyone,

I ran into this trouble as well, no driver working for the virtual NIC. I would guess its because how I made the virtual machine. I had a dev-VM for Vista 32-Bit that had data on a secondary hard drive. I thought to make it easier I would just duplicate the VM file/directory (.vmwarevm directory). I renamed it in the Library and changed the type of guest. Then reformatted and install Vista 64-Bit (from MS Action Pack subscription).

I guess that changing the type of guest in the Library window did not add the line (ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"). I added it and networking works, and I have all my secondary drive (with source & graphics & all).

I hope this added info is helpful to someone.

Best, Ralph

[admin]

I guess that changing the type of guest in the Library window did not add the line (ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000").

Right, that's currently expected behavior.

[tdwilliams]

Hi,

I'm having similar problems but a little different setup. I've checked my .vmx file and ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000" was already present. My VM is a conversion from Parallels 4.0. I used VMware Converter to convert it. Everything boots up fine but the NIC driver fails to load and has a yellow exclamation point in Device Manager.

I've deleted the device in Device Manager, scanned for new hardware, downloaded and installed the latest Intel driver for the 1000/MT, rebooted, several combinations of the same, but no luck. I even added a 2nd NIC but had the same effect (driver fails and now I have two NICs with yellow exclamation points in Device Manager).

Running Vista Business 32 bit.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Regards.

[dbam987]

Thanks for the tip of putting the following line in the VMX file!

ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

In my setup I have the MBP (Summer 2007 version) running Fusion 2.1 with the Windows 7 (pre-beta, build 6801) when I encountered this issue. Putting the above line in the VMX file fixed the problem in a jiffy.

Thanks again!

[halteach]

Excellent!! Worked for me with my windows 7 installation.

thanks.

Hal

[esmalling]

Worked for me too. I'm surprised to see that it's still an issue though.

[psionikangel]

I just want to say that I had the very same problem under Windows 7 RC 1 and adding the "e1000" to the vmx file also did the trick for me!

[Fusionman1]

Running: Hardware: MBP 3.1GHZ Dual Core

WM Fusion 3.0, Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

Not Network Hardware detected error.

This solved it: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/172693

adding this line to *.vmx: ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

I just added it in at the very end of the text file.

Thanks for the tips!

[DOBM]

Hi the adding of the additional line in Boot Camp Partition.vmx as expressed elsewhere in this thread:-

ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

completely solved my problem with Vista 7 Ultimate as a Boot Camp partition on OS X 10.6.2 Using VMware Fusion v2.06.

The file can be found in:- /Users/yourusername/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Boot Camp/discname

and right click and select show package contents, then open the vmx file with text edit and add the ethernet line (VMware MUST be closed down whilst you do this).

On next VMware boot-up of Vista a new ethernet device will be found (Intel Pro 100) and will automatically install. After a little wait the network should then connect.

Thanks guys, just surprised that this bug is still around a year later and was not solved by VMware reinstallation.

[rhfritz]

This solution worked for me with Windows 7 as well.