Anyone else with bridged networking problems?

[martinhmac]

As long as I set the networking options for NAT, I can maintain network connections on both Host and Guest (XP Pro) side - EXCEPT ( a critical limitation) that I can't access local LAN-based file servers.

So, I want to try bridged networking. My experience (over and over), when bridged networking is selected: I get "Limited or no connectivity" in the LAN connection on the (XP) Guest, no Internet connection on Guest, and broken Internet connection on Host which can't be restored short of a Mac reboot (quitting Fusion alone does not restore it).

I've been going back and forth with Fusion Support, who have had me (several times) uninstall Cisco VPN client on Host, and fully uninstall Parallels (which I had previously used), but to no avail.

I'm using the released Fusion - no previous experience with the beta.

While I used Parallels before, I did not attempt to convert a Parallels VM or a Bootcamp VM, but created Fusion XP Pro VM from scratch.

I'm on a 2.16 GHz MacBook Pro, with 2GB of RAM.

In all my current experimenting with bridging, I'm on a wired ethernet connection - so this is not an issue of wireless bridging.

My first experiences with Fusion had been very positive. Basically, response as compared with Parallels was much improved. But this networking problem may be a deal-breaker. I need to be able to access local file servers.

Has anyone else had similar problems - and resolved them!??? Thanks for your input.

[maverick808]

I have a similar problem, but haven't found a solution either. When I use NAT networking with my Windows XP guest then there are no problems. However, if I try to use bridged networking then as soon as XP makes ANY web request or network activity then the connection is killed for both the guest and OS X.

I can fix it without having to reboot the entire machine by simply turning off the wireless on the iMac I'm using and turning it on again. I imagine that if you are using a wire then unplugging and replugging it might work. Once I do this, the network again starts working in OS X but if I try any network activity in XP the network is again instantly killed and I have to repeat the process.

For the moment I'm using NAT but this is a terrible solution for me as I need to access web services frequently on the guest and need a static IP.

[johnpierson]

I'm having a similar problems when I connect my MBP, to a switch network on my company (while using the bridge network). I don't have problems using the bridged network at home, where I have been successful at connecting to the Internet via wireless and wired. At home I have a Linksys 802.11g/b router and all is well. At work, I use a wired connection. I have a sneaky suspicion that the network guys have a setting on their Cisco blade/switch that may be causing the problem, you may try tapping the network guys to see if they know something that may help you. I'll see if I can find something on this end.

[maverick808]

I seem to have fixed my problem by uninstalling the network adapter in Windows (control panel, system, device manager) and then redetecting and installing (scan for new hardware in device manager). I didn't even have to restart Windows, simply removing and redetecting worked fine.

[nesmex]

This is a common problem, have you seen this thread?

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=96699

We are waiting for a solution from VMWare

Regards,

[martinhmac]

Yes, I had seen that thread, but it was about bridged wireless[/b] whereas my problem is with bridged wired. (I haven't even tried the same convolutions with wireless, given that thread.

Thanks.

[martinhmac]

Thanks for this. I tried it at home last night, and initially it appeared to work. I got bridged connectivity after doing the uninstall and reinstall of the network adapter.

But, at home, my Mac was on a wireless connection. This morning I came into the office, optimistic that your approach would solve the bridging problem with my wired connection. It didn't, even though I repeated the uninstall and reinstall.

However, that led me to try setting my Mac in the office to use the wireless connection alone. And I discovered that bridging worked just fine on wireless. So, at least I've narrowed down the problem, and I don't think it's a problem with the network at the office, since the wired and wireless connections use the same DHCP etc.

One detail I left out of my earlier description: occasionally (1 in 4 times?) when I'm on the wired connection in the office and start up the XP Guest, I do get the LAN connection and get a locally assigned IP address. But, even when the address has been picked up, I still get no Internet connection on the Guest side and all Internet connectivity on the Host side is broken until I reboot the Host.

[jsmac]

I have a similar problem with bridged networking. I'm running fusion on a 2.66 Xserve with a Windows 2003 server VM on Mac OS server 10.4.10. Once I boot the Windows VM, I no longer have access to the Internet via the host Mac OS until I reboot the xserve. Local computers can still access the server's file directory through the local LAN even though Mac OS cannot access the Internet. What's different in my situation is that the Windows VM continues to have a stable connection with the Internet.

I'm not positive this is directly related but I cannot establish a connection via Apple Remote Desktop from a local wired or wireless connection with the host Mac OS once the host Mac OS loses the ability to access the Internet.

Please let me know if anyone figures this out or has any suggestions. Thanks!

[murreyaw]

I am the same issue when using Airport, but not when using physical media connection. Very strange.