Converted laptop with no network connectivity....

[Bo_B]

I and a collegue tried VMWare Converter on his soon to be replaced laptop (an HP) which is running XP-Pro SP2 and is connected to a Windows domain.

The basic conversion process worked fine and also the reconfiguration, except that if we checked the checkbox to change the identity of the clone (I can't remember the exact wording here) we were required to get some extra software stuff from the Internet, so we skipped that part.

(Now after the fact I have searched "everywhere" for information on exactly which tools we were supposed to download, but could not find it mentioned anywhere. Seems like the only place it is mentioned is inside the reconfiguration program when you are half way through...

Anyway, after we finished and tried starting the created VM in Player we had to supply an activation key (of course, since the hardware had changed so much). Then it started up like on the laptop. :smileygrin:

But after looking around we noted that the guest had no less than 3 network adapters, none of which worked...

Ipconfig /all revealed that they all had fixed IP addresses in the 192.168.x.x ranges (all on different subnets).

It is impossible to ping guest-host or host-guest, we get either "host unreachable" or timeouts. I believe we got timeouts after we changed the loopback adapter on the host to be in the same subnet as one of the guest NIC:s. Changing the network type between Bridged/NAT/Host on each of the three NIC:s in the guest changes nothing either.

This makes no sense to me at all because I am running several guests in VMWare WS 6 with no issues at all.

Is there a limitation in Player that blocks the network access?

We tried Player because my collegue does not have a WorkStation license and the guest files are massive (40 Gb) so I don't want to bring it over to my PC just for testing, either.

What could we do to rectify this situation? Either in the (limited) menus of Player or directly editing the vmx file?

/Bo

[Chris_Howard]

There is no restriction in VMware player for access to the network.

On the original laptop - did that have 3 network cards, or maybe a VPN client some of which can appear as a NIC, or perhaps a wireless nic?

Given the restricted nature of VMware player, I can predict some vmx file hacking may be required here.

Are you able to post the vmx file so the folks on here can take a look?

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[Bob_3R]

Here is the current state of the vmx file:

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "6"

memsize = "1152"

MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"

MemTrimRate = "-1"

displayName = "WELEJAHOLAP"

guestOS = "winxppro"

sound.present = "TRUE"

sound.filename = "-1"

sound.autodetect = "TRUE"

usb.present = "TRUE"

ethernet0.present = "TRUE"

ethernet0.addressType = "generated"

ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"

ethernet1.present = "TRUE"

ethernet1.addressType = "generated"

ethernet1.connectionType = "bridged"

scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"

scsi0:0.fileName = "WELEJAHOLAP.vmdk"

pciBridge0.present = "TRUE"

tools.upgrade.policy = "useGlobal"

ehci.present = "TRUE"

ide0:0.present = "TRUE"

ide0:0.autodetect = "TRUE"

ide0:0.filename = "auto detect"

ide0:0.deviceType = "atapi-cdrom"

scsi0.present = "TRUE"

scsi0.virtualDev = "buslogic"

buslogic.noDriver = "FALSE"

floppy0.fileName = "A:"

extendedConfigFile = "WELEJAHOLAP.vmxf"

virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:5a:d7:4e"

ethernet1.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:5a:d7:58"

uuid.location = "56 4d 36 82 9b 1e 66 24-f2 a9 85 a6 45 5a d7 4e"

uuid.bios = "56 4d 36 82 9b 1e 66 24-f2 a9 85 a6 45 5a d7 4e"

scsi0:0.redo = ""

checkpoint.vmState = "WELEJAHOLAP.vmss"

pciBridge0.pciSlotNumber = "17"

scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "16"

ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "32"

ethernet1.pciSlotNumber = "33"

sound.pciSlotNumber = "34"

ehci.pciSlotNumber = "35"

ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

ethernet1.generatedAddressOffset = "10"

tools.remindInstall = "TRUE"

isolation.tools.hgfs.disable = "TRUE"

[Chris_Howard]

Your vmx file shows you have 2 ethernet adapters. - you can probably remove the entries that refer to ethernet1 to tidy things up.

Rereading your original post, you mention installing some tools, but weren't sure what these were.

It sounds like you need to install the VMware tools package, which include drivers for things like the network card/ display etc. - you can check if you already have this by the existence of the "VMware tools" service.

Unfortunately the VMware tools package is not supplied with VMware Player. - someone has described how to get these from the VMware workstation download here .

You may also want to read the " " and threads.

Good luck.

If you found this helpful please consider the use of the Helpful /Correct buttons to award points. Thanks !!

[Bo_B]

I removed one of the Ethernet adapters from the guest settings, since I can't understand why more than one adapter is needed.

I also modified the settings in the virtual network such that the loopback adapter and the bluetooth are excluded from the list of host NIC adapters to autoselect among.

I actually think that my problems came from the bridge using a loopback adapter on the host....

Now I have another question in the networking area:

If I do an ipconfig in the guest it brings up 3 adapters:

1) VMWare Network Adapter VMNet8

2) VMWare Network Adapter VMNet1

3) Ethernet local area connection 8

The only one with a sensible IP address is #3. It has an address on my external DHCP enabled network as it should.

What are the VMNet1 and VMNet8 used for and how can I get rid of them?

I don't believe they serve any useful purpose now that I got #3 to work.

[theanykey]

vmnet 1 = host only

vmnet 2 = nat

If you are not opting to use "host only" or "nat" for ANY of your VMs, then yes, you can disable these. Otherwise disable what is NOT being utilized.