Server 2008 loses network connectivity after reboot

[Bruticusmaximus]

So far, this is happening on 2 different Windows 2008 R2 servers on different hosts in different v5.5 clusters.

I can reboot these VMs all day and they always come back up on the network with no issues.

If I apply a Microsoft update (even one that doesn't require a reboot) and reboot, it comes up disconnected from the network.

When checking the NIC settings, everything looks normal. No missing IP addresses, no missing gateways.

I can't ping out from the VM either.

If I go into the OS and disable then re-enable the NIC, it comes back online.

If I clone the VM, the problem goes with the VM.

Here's what I've tried:

Upgraded VMware tools

Upgraded VM hardware version

Deleted VMXNET 3 Nic and re-added it

Switched to the e1000 Nic

Moved the VM to a new host (v6.0)

Rebooted the host

Beating the VM with a hammer

It's getting to be a pain because, with every monthly Microsoft patching, we have 2 VMs that we have to manually disable and re-enable the NIC.

Any thoughts?

[irateadmin]

I am experiencing the same issue. Did you ever find a resolution?

[bf1967]

That is strange. Since when does that happen? How many NICs do the VMs have? Just one?

The eventlog of the VMs does no show anything?

I'd put the vSwitch in promiscous mode and do a wireshark trace to see if the vNIC send anything.

Or maybe the virtual port on the vswitch is "damaged". Create a dedicated switch/portgroup with the corresponding VLAN (one thing that you did not try so far) and try again or use another portgroup/vlan/ipaddress as a test.

There was also some issue with Windows Updates and network card during the last 2-3 months. But I think that was just that they lost their DHCP configuration.

[Bruticusmaximus]

This ended up being a broken Windows patch that was released with the May 2018 updates.  It was fixed with the June 2018 updates.

[sumankumar29]

Cloud you please share the KB artical which fixed your issue. I am facing same issue in linux machine , when i reboot the VM it loses the IP configuration

[IT_pilot]

Microsoft Updates replaces existing vmxnet3 vNIC on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7

http://www.vmwarearena.com/microsoft-updates-replaces-existing-vmxnet3-vnic-windows-serve/