VMware Communities
extrashot
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

how to know which vmnet is connected to virtual machines

I am having three vmnets in VMware workstation.

vmnet0 vmnet1 vmnet8

VMnet0 is bridged/automatic  I tried playing with it changing lan card assigned to it.

vmnet on different lan cards.jpg

Now following is configuration of vmnet0 at the time of writing this question

vmnet0 .jpg

and vmnet8 is

vmnet8_a.jpg

The virtual machine IP address is

Windows IP Configuration in Virtual Machine


Ethernet adapter Ethernet0:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : localdomain
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : ffff::ffff:fe6f:c3a4:ae3e%12
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.152.129
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.152.2

This is in range 192.168.152.X this is in vmnet8 so this virtual machine is connected to vmnet8

The setting here which I understand is that virtual machine is connected to vmnet8 which has only one Wifi card that is onboard Realtek

adapter which it is showing me as 2 adapters as in screenshot

Realtek RTL8723DE 802.11b/g/n PCI e Adapter

Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller #2

which I think is same LAN card.

Now if I want Virtual machine to be connected to VMnet0 to the  bridged LAN Card DLink DWA-131  Wireless Network mode so

that I can bridge the Wifi connection to access point via USB Wifi Card. DLink  or even If I wish to connect VM to Vmnet0

in NAT it is giving me errors.

vmnet0 in NAT error.jpg

I am not able to understand how to connect virtual machines to desired VMnets.

i.e. If I want to connect vm to Vmnet0 or vmnet1 or vmnet8 how can I choose desired vmnet.If I am doing some mistake

please guide me to some tutorial which can help me or some link that might have explained this concept better.

I am not able to understand how to do bridging for virtual machines to desired vmnet as a result my VMs are not having internet

connectivity.

I have my internet connectivity in host machine on Wifi2 connection which is my DLink USB Wifi. So I want Virtual machines to be

connected to a vmnet which is connected to DLink in bridged mode.

What mistake I am doing here. please guide me to some tutorial which can help me or some link that might have explained this concept better. I am not able to understand how to do bridging for virtual machines to desired vmnet as a result my VMs are not having internet connectivity. I have my internet connectivity in host machine on Wifi2 connection which is my DLink USB Wifi. So I want Virtual machines to be connected to a vmnet0 which is connected to DLink in bridged mode as in vmnet8 I am not having an option to share DLink USB Wifi in bridged mode.

1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
sjesse
Leadership
Leadership
Jump to solution

The only way to have multiple NAT networks is to use a router vm, I do something like thats in this link

https://itpro.outsidesys.com/2015/02/19/home-lab-with-pfsense-workstation/

This lets you turn those host only or custom vmnet or lan segments into routable networks.

View solution in original post

15 Replies
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership
Jump to solution

VMware Workstation allows only a singe vmnet being configured as NAT, and the VM's traffic will be routed through the host's current network connection.

However, you can have multiple Bridged vmnets, each of them connected to a different host network adapter.

The assignment to one of the vmnets is done within the VM's settings.


André

sjesse
Leadership
Leadership
Jump to solution

The only way to have multiple NAT networks is to use a router vm, I do something like thats in this link

https://itpro.outsidesys.com/2015/02/19/home-lab-with-pfsense-workstation/

This lets you turn those host only or custom vmnet or lan segments into routable networks.

extrashot
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

The assignment to one of the vmnets is done within the VM's settings.

yes this is what I want to achieve any youtube video which can help me understand concept will help me to clear my doubt as I am not able to achieve the desired result.

Thanks sjesee to your link it is knowledgeable and will help me.

Reply
0 Kudos
extrashot
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

based on a discussion here https://superuser.com/questions/1507721/connecting-virtual-machines-in-workstation-to-desired-vmnet-...

in  a comment it says that vmnet8 can not see usb wifi adaptor I am not sure if this is the case and that is correct or not.

Reply
0 Kudos
sjesse
Leadership
Leadership
Jump to solution

In all your examples vmnet8 is set to nat, which is going to use an ip in your host machine, instead of bridging which would use an up from them physical network.The default is the same

pastedImage_0.png

See where it says external connection, and type. If you want to change that, you need to highlight vmnet8 and then click on bridged. Then it would look like this

pastedImage_1.png

since you can add more, I generally wouldn't change vmnet 0,1,8. Add additional ones by clicking add network, and then change those to bridged network adapters

Reply
0 Kudos
sjesse
Leadership
Leadership
Jump to solution

To have multiple bridged network you have to pick on for vmnet0 though, none can say automatic as it will use all of them.

Reply
0 Kudos
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership
Jump to solution

The network concept in VMware Workstation is:

  1. The Virtual Network Editor
    This is where you can define network connections globally, that can later be used by your VMs.
  2. The individual Virtual Machine's settings
    Once you open a VM's "Settings..." dialog, and select its network adapter, you will have the option to select one of the defined network for that specific VM.

André

Reply
0 Kudos
extrashot
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Yes great you figured it out all correctly and I got exact thing from your screenshot.

Now the question I have is why is there vmnet0 what is its purpose?

Why is it default is there any specific reason for this?

Currently in my virtual network editor window I have following for vmnet8

virtual network editor.jpg

and in the virtual machine network setting it looks like following in network adaptor I have set it to custom VMnet8

win10 network settings a.jpg

So is this a mistake here.

Your pfsense link is very much what I want to achieve

Reply
0 Kudos
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership
Jump to solution

Why is it default is there any specific reason for this?

No special reason that I could think of. It's simply been the default for many years now.

André

Reply
0 Kudos
sjesse
Leadership
Leadership
Jump to solution

Its these below, by default workstation needs some setup for this basic network types

pastedImage_0.png

Vmnet0 is the default bridged network

Vmnet1 is the default host only network

Vmnet8 is the default NAT network

This is why I suggest not adjusting those but adding new ones, and when you want to use it select custom.

Reply
0 Kudos
extrashot
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

I added 2 images in my reply just above while you commented here 2 comments above I added images.

Reply
0 Kudos
sjesse
Leadership
Leadership
Jump to solution

Setting to custom and picking vmnet8 is the same thing as selecting NAT, no mistake there. Setting Custom to VMnet0 is the same thing as selecting bridged. If you are going to have mutltipl networks that need network adapters then custom is the way to go. The Bridged, Nat, and Host-Only adapters just need vmnet adapters, so for somereason vmware decided vmnet0, vmnet1, and vmnet8 for some reason like a.p.​ mentioned, no really logic that I'm aware of why they chose those numbers.

Reply
0 Kudos
extrashot
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

ok great for explanation so far I am clear with what you all mentioned I feel I understand now better the networking in VMware.

However here is are 2 screenshots which is present scenario on my system.

In this screenshot see I select bridge but the other USB Wifi Adapter DLink one is not coming in drop down menu.

The default one which it is showing does not have any internet connectivity.

vmnet8 is not able to see dlink adapter.jpg

Now following is setting in VM

win10 network settings a.jpg

and the internet is not existing there in VM.

Wifi 1 is Realtek adaptor which I do not prefer to use even for host machine.

Wifi2 is DLink USB Wifi adaptor which I always use to connect to wireless networks this one is not coming

in vmnet8 what can I do for this to get it in vmnet8 or did I miss something.

Also how can I reply to select the message you mention I am not able to see any option to quote the comment I manually copy paste the replies you do and that is difficult to select.

Reply
0 Kudos
sjesse
Leadership
Leadership
Jump to solution

If the network card you want isn't showing up, change vmnet0 to a specific one, on automatic it selects all available. The wireless one thats on vmnet8, if you check in windows, is it connected to a wireless network and have an ip. If the real card can't connect, the bridged one won't work.

Reply
0 Kudos
extrashot
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

It took me a while to fully understand and grasp the concept and I wanted to be sure I am on same page as you are.

If the network card you want isn't showing up, change vmnet0 to a specific one, on automatic it selects all available.

Ok I change vmnet0 from automatic to Dlink card (this is Wifi2 and has an IP address from the ADSL Broadband router I have) all the internet and every thing I am able to post here is because of this USB wifi adapter  connected to host machine and being able to work. This does not show in vmnet8 in drop down but it does show in vmnet0 drop down.

In ipconfig output on host machine this card shows as following

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi 2:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : domain.name
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . …... : ffff::ffff:ffff:61e2:a9eb%11
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . ………: 192.168.1.14
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . ……...: 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . ……..: fffff::1332:fffff:fe58:d1d5%11
                                                          :192.168.1.1

Now I come to vmnet8

The wireless one thats on vmnet8, if you check in windows, is it connected to a wireless network and have an ip. If the real card can't connect, the bridged one won't work.

The card which is being shown here does not have an IP address this is Realtek one I have disabled it so that any way by mistake also I do not want to have any connections originating from this Wifi Card.This card in ipconfig output on Host OS shows as following


Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : domain.name

What I want here is Dlink wifi adapter which is being displayed as Wifi 2 Connection name in ipconfig output .It is basically a USB adapter working as Wifi.

I want virtual machines to  NAT  or bridge every thing to happen for this Wifi Adapter for the time being.

The other Wifi I will enable after I finish this experiment.

So this is the situation.

Reply
0 Kudos