Bridged network adapter not working (related to 3.1 upgrade?)

[robot1125]

All of a suddent my bridged network no longer functions. It might be related to the 3.1 upgrade... not sure. I can changed it to NAT and it works, but I need bridging. I'm currently running on x64 mode with a W7 VM on OS X 10.6.3.

Any ideas?

[MarkFerraro]

I had the same problem with my Verizon MiFi device when I upgraded.

Bridged still works on my home and hotel wifi, but not Verizon's wifi device?

I then discovered that NAT works fine for me. I running Win XP and a Cisco VPN client. Win XP is just fine for what I use Windows for. I don't know yet if there is a downside for me using NAT. At this point I don't think so.

Sorry. Not much help to you and your needs for a bridged connection, but you're not alone with bridged issues and Fusion 3.1.0.

[j23]

I got exalctly the same effect in my all (!!!) VMs hosted on my OSX 10.6.4 just after upgrade to VMWare 3.1.1! It must be related with upgrade.

Any workaround (or fix) strongly appreciated...

[j23]

After reparing of VMWare Tools and few restarts both VN and my host OS, it started working. I have no idea what really helped...

[peteg42]

I just upgraded to VMWare Fusion 3.1.1 and am seeing a similar problem. This is on Mac OS X 10.6.4 with a Debian guest, kernel 2.6.32 (the stock Debian kernel), a MacBook Core 2 Duo from 2007.

I have two network interfaces under VMWare - eth0 is NAT and always works fine. eth1 is bridged to the MacBook's ethernet port, and works fine until I put the MacBook to sleep. Upon wake-up, the NAT interface continues to work, but the bridged interface does not. If I disconnect the bridged interface from the Debian virtual machine, then the ethernet port seems to work under OS X.

The Debian kernel issues this in dmesg when I try to bring up eth1:

http:// 136.879073 ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth1: link is not ready

This setup worked fine on 3.1.

I tried the suggestion here:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/174142

about rebooting VMWare's network stack (etc) but it made no difference.

I will try reinstalling VMWare 3.1 and see if that fixes anything.

Update: I did reinstall VMWare 3.1 and things are back the way they were, after some fiddling. Turning off the ethernet "Configure IPv4" setting in System Preferences made the difference. Perhaps it works under 3.1.1 too but I'm out of patience today.

[135Aviator]

I am having a similar problem. I posted a support request under the complimentary email support feature several days ago but no reply so far... The other morning Fusion prompted me to upgrade to v3.1.1. I shut down my Windows XP VM and proceeded with the upgrade. After the upgrade bridged networking no longer worked. I was able to get it working by changing the VM network settings to NAT and then changing back to Bridged. Networking now works again but the VM boot time is much slower because during start-up of the VM I get a text screen that says (the "xxxx" below are just filler not actual text that appears): Network Boot Framework AMD Cient Mac Address: xxxxxx GUID:xxxxx DHCP There is a wait cursor by DHCP. Then eventually it starts and says "Exit Intel PXE ROM" Then it seems to start normally. This screen and long delay starting never appeared before. Please note that the network I am on does use MAC Address filtering and I must use bridged networking so that my VM can access specific network resources. This has always been the set-up I have used and it has worked seamlessly to date. It is only since upgrading to 3.1.1 that this new boot screen and boot delay is occurring. Any thoughts appreciated.

[135Aviator]

peteg42 - regarding your comment "...Turning off the ethernet "Configure IPv4" setting in System Preferences..." Where exactly is that setting? I don't see it in Fusion settings. Do you in fact mean the actual System Preferences in the Mac? Not sure I should change those for fear of losing the Mac's network connection. I still have 3.1.1 installed and thought I would test your theory...

[peteg42]

Sorry to hear you're having the same problem.

Go to System Preferences -> Network. Choose your ethernet interface. Mine when connected to the VMWare guest has a red icon next to it (I think it always did) and says "Not connected" even if there is a cable plugged in. In other words, OS X seems oblivious to the state of the ethernet port.

Under 3.1.1 this was not the case, but I didn't try the following: On the right is an option "Configure IPv4" - select "Off" and press Apply. This made it work for me under 3.1.

Note that the bridged interface looked to be permanently connected (but not functional before I did the above) from the guest's point of view, as in "ifconfig -a" knew about it.

I'm going to stick with 3.1 for now, but I wish you all luck with 3.1.1!

cheers

peter

[135Aviator]

Peter thanks for the speedy reply. I wish the folks at VM Ware support were as quick to reply as you are :). Coincidentally I updated my post a second ago wondering if it was the Mac System Preferences you were talking about - which you now confirmed.

I am new to the Mac and new to Fusion so please forgive what are probably Noob questions. I am still a little confused. I am using Wi-Fi

(Air Port) not the Ethernet connection. But it sounds like you are saying I should change the Ethernet settings? In some locations I do use Ethernet but in my current location I use WiFi.

Thanks in advance

- Charles

[peteg42]

Indeed, use the interface you want to bridge instead of "the ethernet interface" in my previous email.

This has something to do with getting Mac OS to let go of the interface you want to bridge, or getting VMWare to claim it...

Hope this helps!

cheers

peter

[135Aviator]

Peter - when you say "the VMWare guest has a red icon next to it" I am not sure what you mean. I see "Air Port" whcih I am using and is green, and I also see Firewire, and Ethernet whcih are both Red. This makes sense to me because I am currently using the Air Port for my connection not Ethernet. I don't see any reference to "guest". I guess I am confused...

- Charles

[135Aviator]

Hmmm OK. But I thought the way this worked was the Mac has it's physical connection to the network (Air Port, Ethernet, etc...) which are managed through System Preferences but then the VM has a virtual network adapter which Windows XP thinks is a GB Ethernet connection. My belief was that this virtual connection was just a proxy through the Mac and did not change regardless of whcih physical connection the Mac is using. The issue of whether the machine has one or two IPs asssigned through DHCP is a function of the NAT vs Bridged set-up. I am using Bridged because my VM needs to access specific network resources...

[Macsential]

Fusion 3.1.0 was my first installed version, and I did not have problems with the Bridge adapter then. After just updating to 3.1.1 however, my network interfaces stopped working. If users have expired this before, then it could be due to an upgrade bug. Anyone else seen this with the latest update as well?

Alternately my troubles could be due to the changes related to DisplayLink. I have read that the Apple USB Ethernet Adapter and any DisplayLink device cannot happily coexist on the same system.

[135Aviator]

Yes everyone on this thread is experiencing (or has experienced) bridged network problems after the 3.1.1 upgrade.

[peteg42]

By "guest" I meant the VMWare guest OS - Windows in you case. I meant the interface you want to bridge. I think the green icon means that OS X (the host) controls it, but am not certain.

For the AirPort, try Advanced -> TCP/IP -> "Configure IPv4" and set that to Off. Apply, etc.

cheers

peter

[135Aviator]

Got it. I will try that now and reboot the VM and see what happens and report back. I may still be misunderstanding what you mean - I do see the Airport Advanced settings and can change DHCP to Off for ip4 but I don't see any reference to the "VM Guest" Do you see the VM Guest on the System Preferences Network screen?

[peteg42]

No, there is no mention of guests or hosts in the OS X things (System Preferences, etc.). It is VMWare terminology, you might see it in the configuration for VMWare Fusion or when people try to talk about what's connected to what.

cheers

peter

[Macsential]

I found a solution. Rebooting the VMs did not help. Restarting VMware did not help. Rebooting the Mac did not help.

But as soon as I went into my VM’s settings, removed all—apparently working—network interfaces and added them with the exact same configuration: everything started working again. I have not rebooted the Mac yet, but I hope these ‘new’ interfaces I added will stick around.

Definitely an upgrade bug then. How best to notify the VMware staff about this?

[135Aviator]

Peter I tried it. I went to the Mac System Preferences - Network - AirPort (since that is my connection to the network) - Advanced - TCP/IP and I changed "Configure IPv4" from "DHCP" to "Off". As I suspected, all this did for me is cause the Mac itself (and of course the VM within it) to lose it's connection to the network alltogether. Since the network I am on has a DHCP server and all IPs are assigned by that server, and I don't want to realy on a static IP for fear of conflicts, I don't really see how turning DHCP off would work.

[peteg42]

In bridging mode the guest (the OS running VMware) takes full(ish) control of the network interface.

In other words, the DHCP client will run under Windows, not OS X.

Note I'm talking about turning off TCP/IP configuration of the interface, not just DHCP.

Perhaps you can try the other tip - viz redoing all your interfaces...

cheers

peter