Win7 Ultimate VM networking issue

[mrdrewchandler]

First, please let me state that I've followed all the steps in the KB article located at http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=101646....

OS-X 10.6.6 running the latest update of Fusion.  The Win7 Ultimate I installed is an upgrade license, meaning I first had to install XP and then upgrade to 7.  I did not use the XP machine for anything except for the upgrade. 

Both NAT and Bridged show active connections and toggling between them doesn't seem to do a thing.  Windows device manager is showing that the Intel Pro/1000 MT Network Connection cannot start - Code 10.

Thanks in advance!

[WoodyZ · Accepted solution]

In VMware Fusion, if on the Virtual Machine Library the Guest OS shows as Windows 7 or Windows 7 x64 (whichever is appropriate) and not Windows XP and also in the Virtual Machine's .vmx configuration file it shows ethernet(N).virtualDev = "e1000" then this is not necessarily a VMware Fusion issue per se and is more of a Microsoft Windows Driver issue and needs to be resolved just as if it was a Physical Machine running Windows 7.

This means uninstalling the affected Device via Windows Device Manager and reinstalling it and this could require manually deleting several files and copying fresh copies of the necessary files to reinstall to a temporary location for the reinstall if the normal method of uninstalling/reinstalling the Device Driver fails.

If you have already uninstalled/reinstalled the Device in a normal manner via Windows Device Manager and there is still an issue then in the case of the Intel® PRO/1000 MT Network Connection find below directions for manual uninstall/reinstall.

1. First either manually delete the existing installed driver and installed config files for the installed driver and then copy the required files to be reinstalled to temporary location from the DriverStore FileRepository for the Intel® PRO/1000 MT Network Connection and the specific files depends on which version, x86 or x64, of Windows 7 you're running or to simplify this I've attached a file named Prep_for_NIC_manual_uninstall_reinstall.zip and it contains the PrepForNIC.cmd file which is a NT Command Script that will copy the target files from the appropriate DriverStore FileRepository folder to C:\Temp\NIC folder and delete the currently used files.  This will work for both Windows 7 and Windows 7 x64 under VMware Fusion.

Extract the PrepForNIC.cmd file and then right-click it and select Run as administrator and then click Yes on the User Account Control message box.  Note if you do not want to take the easy way and use the PrepForNIC.cmd file then open it in Notepad to see what it does and then do it manually.

2. Click the Start Orb and type Device Manager and press Enter.

3. Right-click the Intel® PRO/1000 MT Network Connection under Network Adapters and select Uninstall.

4. Click OK on the Confirm Device Uninstall message box.

NOTE: DO NOT Check '[] Delete the drive software for this device.' if it exists on the message box as this will delete the primary DriverStore for this device and one would not want to do this unless it is determined that the source files themselves are corrupt.  In the event the original source files are deleted then they will need to be retrieved from the Windows 7 install DVD/ISO Image and the easiest way to do that it to use a GUI based Utility that can mount and extract files from a .WIM (Windows Image) file.  One such utility is WinMount and the WinMount Free version will do.

5. Reboot the Virtual Machine.

Once at the Desktop if after the "Installing device driver software" message it doesn't say "Device driver software installed successfully." then it should say "Device driver software was not successfully installed." and if the latter then proceed with the remaining steps otherwise you're finished.

If Windows didn't successfully install the Driver after rebooting then...

6. Click the Start Orb and type Device Manager and press Enter.

7. Right-click the Ethernet Controller under Other devices and select Update Driver Software...

8. Select Browse my computer for driver software.

9. Type in C:\Temp\NIC and then press Enter.

10. Select Install this driver software anyway on the Windows Security dialog box.

It should report Windows has successfully updated your driver software. Click close on the Update Driver Software - Intel® PRO/1000 MT Network Connection message box.

Done!

[mrdrewchandler]

Well, I've walked through your steps twice now with no success but it does appear to be a driver issue.  Thank you by the way for your assistance. 

Whenever I add the Intel Pro/1000 MT Network Connection the message is: "Installation of this driver is not recommended because Windows cannot verify it is compatible with your hardware."  Clicking YES to install allows windows to install the device but finds an error, which is: "The device cannot start (Code 10)."  When I try to use the drivers added by the script you provided located at c:\temp\nic, none of the files are recognized by windows.

[mrdrewchandler]

Spoke too soon, I think. I changed the VMX file to ethernet(n) but figured out that you meant a number, so when I switched it back to zero and restarted the VM the driver installed successfully and I was able to register the installation of Windows.

[WoodyZ]

Yes the (N) is a placeholder for the numeric value, and by default 0 however if one has added additional Network Adapters it will of course increment.  I didn't use an actual value as I assume when looking at the parameters and corresponding values in the .vmx configuration file it's obvious what (N) represents when used in this manner.