Archived: Old fix for Fusion 1.0 and 1.1.0 wireless networking problems

[bgertzfield]

NOTE: The software patch in this thread applies ONLY to VMware Fusion 1.0 (build 51348) and VMware Fusion 1.1.0 (build 62573).

If you're running VMware Fusion 1.1.1 (build c) or later, you do NOT need the software patch attached to this thread, as the fix is already included in that software. (Please don't apply the patch to VMware Fusion 1.1.1; doing so will prevent you from using the network in your virtual machine.)

For further discussion of wireless networking issues with VMware Fusion 1.1.1, please use the new thread:

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Hi folks,

We know a ton of people have been running into lots of issues running VMware Fusion virtual machines when their Macs are set up to use wireless (Airport) networking.

We've finally reproduced the issues in-house, and we have a potential fix. We'd like your help in testing this fix.

NOTE: This fix has been sanity-checked in-house and works in our reproduction case, but it may not work for all cases. This is beta code, so as always, don't use it on production systems.

I've attached the fix to this post in vmnet_fix.zip. Here's the steps to run it:

0) Do NOT apply the fix if you're running VMware Fusion 1.1.1 build 72241 or later. The fix is already included in that version.

1) Suspend or shut down any running VMs.

2) Double-click on vmnet_fix.zip to unzip it.

3) Run the "VMware Fusion Networking Fix 2007-12-04" application.

4) Enter your administrator username and password.

5) Resume or start up your VMs.

If you use wireless networking on your Mac and you've run into network problems including DHCP issues, packet loss, and loss of connectivity, please give this fix a try and let us know the results.

Again, thanks to everyone for your patience and your assistance in helping us diagnose the issue.

If you run into network problems after installing this fix, please let us know the following:

1) Open Console.app, click on system.log, and copy-and-paste the line containing "vmnet: Initializing module" into a reply to this thread.

2) Let us know if you're using bridged or NAT networking.

3) Try connecting your Mac to both wireless and wired Ethernet networks.

To revert the fix to your original version, follow these steps:

1) Suspend or shut down any running VMs.

2) Open Terminal.app and run the following:

3) cd "/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion"

4) sudo ./boot.sh --stop

5) cd kexts

6) sudo mv vmnet.kext vmnet.kext.1.1fc1

7) sudo mv vmnet.kext.disabled.* vmnet.kext

😎 cd ..

9) sudo ./boot.sh --start".

[Smyly]

I just ran the fix. Now I'm receiving the following error message when I restart my virtual machine:

"Module Version Mismatch 4!

=5 Please update host.

Virtual device Ethernet 0 will start disconnected"

Please help as I'm killing my productivity.

Thanks,

Lorrie

[PistolPeet]

@Smyly: you have to run through the uninstall steps on the original

post. That error happens when you install this patch on 1.1.1 (then

remember to enable the network again when you restart the VM.)

[admin]

PistolPeet: you haven't lost the plot; there are separate issues with:

(a) OS X losing the wifi network connection entirely -- Fusion 1.0 and 1.1.0's wireless bridge code exacerbated this problem, and 1.1.1 fixed it, and that's what this thread is about.

(b) DHCP not working, with VMs bridged to wireless. This was not fixed by 1.1.1, and we're still gathering data and understanding the problem, but we think we've identified something to fix in a future release.

From your evidence, I think you're hitting the second one. It would be good to confirm with ethereal/wireshark if you can, though -- I'd expect that the DHCP response frames are not making it to the VM; if they are, but the VM isn't acting on them, that's something we should understand better. If the frames are making it to the host (and you'd see them sniffing on the host's en1), but not the VM (and you see nothing sniffing inside the VM), then we likely understand the problem.

And thanks for helping Smyly; that's exactly correct. Please don't install the vmnet.kext from this thread over Fusion 1.1.1, which already has a newer one. I'll get the thread-starting post updated to reflect that more explicitly.

[mykmelez]

PistolPeet: you haven't lost the plot; there are separate issues with:

(a) OS X losing the wifi network connection entirely -- Fusion 1.0 and 1.1.0's wireless bridge code exacerbated this problem, and 1.1.1 fixed it, and that's what this thread is about.

(b) DHCP not working, with VMs bridged to wireless. This was not fixed by 1.1.1, and we're still gathering data and understanding the problem, but we think we've identified something to fix in a future release.

And then there's the third issue of DNS not working over time with NATed VMs:

http://communities.vmware.com/message/733256

[berck]

+(b) DHCP not working, with VMs bridged to wireless. This was not fixed

by 1.1.1, and we're still gathering data and understanding the problem,

but we think we've identified something to fix in a future release.+

Alrighty then! I like PistolPeet, have been struggling with this (b) section. I usually get the DHCP IP, but then the DHCP refuses to respond to the VM. I've worked around this issue by going on the wired connection for bridged mode and NAT for wireless. Will this be with a 1.1.2 release, 1.1.x, or 1.2?

[Smyly]

Okay, so here's the deal, where do I find the old version? What I did do is install the patch, reinstall the 1.1.1 upgrade and now the internet connection is holding. Is it possible that by just reinstalling the upgrade it works???

[admin]

mykmelez: I didn't know about that problem report, but I should have been more specific: I was referring to bridged networking only. NAT doesn't have either problem I described, but it may have other problems (like the one you pointed out), and some people don't want to put their VM behind NAT inherently because of the way it works.

berck: Sorry, but we have a policy of not commenting on release dates or version numbers for unannounced releases. I just wanted to clarify that we have, finally, received enough reports of specific DHCP servers that are incompatible with Fusion's wireless bridging that we've been able to identify one issue, and we're testing a fix for future release; that's all I can say about it now.

Smyly: I wouldn't recommend going back to the old version, but 1.1.0 should be available somewhere linked from the Fusion download page. 1.1.1 already has the fix for the primary bridged-to-airport issue, as well as several other fixes, so we recommend you run that version.

[PistolPeet]

Hi magi,

Thanks for the response. I agree, that I'm either in this (b) group, or a sub-set where the DHCP reply is getting to the VM but not being understood correctly.

I'll investigate further tonight when I get home from work. Thanks again for clearing up the different issues that are present.

[rboe]

I had frequent and serious wireless connection problems on MacbookPro3,1, 10.4.11, vmware fusion 1.1.1 (72241), as described in previous posts .

In system.log, e.g.

Mar 6 08:50:41 Rolfs-Macbook kernel[0]: System Wake

Mar 6 08:50:41 Rolfs-Macbook kernel[0]: vmmon: powerStateDidChange flags=0x82 (state 4)

Mar 6 08:50:43 Rolfs-Macbook mDNSResponder: getifaddrs ifa_netmask for vmnet8(8) Flags 8863 Family 2 192.168.64.1 has different family: 0

Mar 6 08:50:43 Rolfs-Macbook mDNSResponder: getifaddrs ifa_netmask for vmnet1(9) Flags 8863 Family 2 192.168.170.1 has different family: 0

With certain firewall settings, wireless would not function at all anymore !

....

Now with vmnet_fix on Fusion 1.1.1 the network issues are solved:

upon wake

Mar 6 13:16:16 Rolfs-Macbook kernel[0]: System Wake

Mar 6 13:16:16 Rolfs-Macbook kernel[0]: vmmon: powerStateDidChange flags=0x82 (state 4)

Mar 6 13:16:16 Rolfs-Macbook kernel[0]: IOUSBWorkLoop::closeGate - interrupt Thread being held off

Mar 6 13:16:26 Rolfs-Macbook configd[45]: posting notification com.apple.system.config.network_change

Mar 6 13:16:26 Rolfs-Macbook lookupd[327]: lookupd (version 369.6) starting - Thu Mar 6 13:16:26 2008

Mar 6 13:16:31 Rolfs-Macbook mDNSResponder: NOTE: Wide-Area Service Discovery disabled to avoid crashing defective DNS relay 192.168.1.1.

But now I cannot connect in Fusion / Windows XP via network NAT, not on en0 and also not on en1.

Error message

"Module Version Mismatch 4!

=5 Please update host.

Virtual device Ethernet 0 will start disconnected"

The previous posts indicate that the fix is only for 1.0 and for 1.1.0

So I reinstalled 1.1.1 and now network connection in XP is working again. But the wireless errors in the system.log are back again.

We definitely need a vmnet_fix for Fusion 1.1.1, since it solves the wireless connection problems.

[bgertzfield]

Hi folks,

This discussion thread has diverged quite a lot from the original intent (testing a proposed networking fix for VMware Fusion 1.0 and 1.1.0).

Since VMware Fusion 1.1.1 already contains this fix (and users are running into issues trying to re-apply it to 1.1.1), I've archived this thread.

I started a new thread to discuss any remaining wireless networking issues. Please bring new discussion to the new thread:

Thanks!

Ben