macOS Big Sur Fusion 12 NAT no internet connection

[om3rx]

Hi,

Running latest macOS Big Sur with Fusion 12. Nothing changed in my virtual machine Windows 10 however internet connection is not working

[BlazerChad]

Above solution did not work for me. I added those entries to /etc/pf.conf, saved, rebooted host, manually set DNS on the guest, rebooted guest.

Still no joy.

[haagbard]

These were the lines that was added to /etc/pd.conf

nat-anchor "com.apple.internet-sharing"
rdr-anchor "com.apple.internet-sharing"

The complete /etc/pd.conf looks like

cat /etc/pf.conf 
scrub-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple.internet-sharing"
rdr-anchor "com.apple.internet-sharing"
dummynet-anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "com.apple/*"
load anchor "com.apple" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.apple"

[BlazerChad]

mine looks like:

set limit {tables 10000, table-entries 400000}
scrub-anchor "cisco.anyconnect.vpn"
scrub-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple.internet-sharing" all
rdr-anchor "com.apple.internet-sharing" all
dummynet-anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "cisco.anyconnect.vpn"
load anchor "cisco.anyconnect.vpn" from "/opt/cisco/anyconnect/ac_pf.conf"
anchor "com.apple/*"
load anchor "com.apple" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.apple"

[haagbard]

Try removing 'all' efter the entries.

[redhatter9]

Below worked for me for both internet and VPN:

I added the last two lines below into file /private/etc/pf.conf (symlink of /etc/pf.conf). The location these are added in the file is important and must be at the beginning along with the other nat anchors. 

#
# com.apple anchor point
#
scrub-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple/*"

nat-anchor "com.apple.internet-sharing/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple.internet-sharing/*"

and then reloaded the pf.

sudo pfctl -d
sudo pfctl -e -f /etc/pf.conf

Additionally, in my VM (RHEL 8), I manually configured (rather than DHCP) my home router's DNS address, and to resolve hostnames on the VPN network, I added another DNS server (x.x.x.x below) for that.

cat /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver x.x.x.x
nameserver 192.168.29.244

[ketokun]

I think I had the same problem. I was able to resolve it by ticking Virtual Machine -> Settings -> Disable Side Channel Mitigations. Also I switched the network adaptor to Bridged.

[PersistentAgent]

This worked for me too! The only minor thing to add is that to disable side-channel mitigations I went to:

Virtual Machine -> Settings -> Advanced -> Disable Side Channel Mitigations

I also had to switch my network adapter to Bridged and it now works! Thank you Ketokun! 

Virtual Machine -> Network Adapter -> Bridged 

[bzdura]

This solution doesn't work for me - still got the same problem when in Bridged mode - ping is working but websites are not - they are halfway loaded without graphics, some of them with ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR

Im wondering why VMware is not trying to solve this problem

[fabioz23]

i've the same problem.

tried to downgrade Fusion to 12.0 with no changes. Still problems when Win10 VM had network bridged with Macbook Pro wifi interface.

If i switch to NAT mode OR bridged on Ethernet USB-C interface no issues at all.

[tm1664]

+1 this needs to be fixed. I have an Ubuntu guest where bridged works just fine over WiFi, so it's not my network.

[ahmadegb]

Hi, how you changed the NAT, I searched a lot but didn't find such option in vmware.

[ahmadegb]

This doesn't work any more, at least with ubuntu 14.0.4

[marcelofares]

Hello
I have the same problem. My BIGSUR is in version 11.2.3 and I can not, in any way, connect my virtual machines to a NAT adapter. This message appears below:

I have VM FUSION 12.1.0 (17195230)
In the past, I used HIGH SIERRA with these same virtual machines, and everything worked perfectly.

Does anyone have any tips?

[vpert]

Hi there,
I'm tired of waiting for VMware to finally fix this bug; I switched to Parallels.
VMware doesn't really seem to be interested in virtualization solutions on clients anymore; a shame really. But maybe it's time to discontinue Fusion and Workstation.
I for one have decided and replaced Fusion and Workstation with Parallels as written. Works, runs and is stable.

[VmareJohn]

Hi, 

I experienced a similar problem recently... except that on top of NAT not working for my VM, Fusion 12 also "breaks" the internet connection on my Mac. 

After a little troubleshooting it appears that if I have any VM with NAT, Fusion randomly deletes my default route (IPv4 or IPv6).

Maybe it is very specific to my setup... but I don't think I have a very unusual Mac setup.

Very disappointed also with not only Fusion but the lack of support and response from VMware.

My post is here:

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Discussions/Big-Sur-OS-Networking-stops-working-when...

The work around for me was to convert *ALL* my VM to bridge - Autodetect (and not Bridge - Wifi). 

[kevinturner1]

Thanks this resolved my problem, well worked out.

[marcelofares]

What is the solution?

[brianmoon]

Thank you @redhatter9 and everyone else for the great work in resolving this.  The solution that worked for me is the following:

1. Disable side channel mitigations (Virtual Machine -> Settings -> Advanced -> Disable Side Channel Mitigations)

2. Add the following to /etc/pf.conf:

nat-anchor "com.apple.internet-sharing/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple.internet-sharing/*"

3. Reload pf:

sudo pfctl -d
sudo pfctl -e -f /etc/pf.conf

I was also able to keep the network adapter using NAT rather than switching to a bridged connection.

For reference, here's what my /etc/pf.conf file looks like:

#
# com.apple anchor point
#
scrub-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple.internet-sharing/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple.internet-sharing/*"
dummynet-anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "com.apple/*"
load anchor "com.apple" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.apple"

This also works just fine with the Cisco AnyConnect Client (version 4.9.05042).

[vpert]

I finally solved this issue also:

uninstall VMware Fushion

install Parallels Desktop

sorry for not providing a other solution; but Parallels was able to bring up a solution for Apple having changing their network stack.

[vpert]

I finally solved this issue also:

uninstall VMware Fushion

install Parallels Desktop

sorry for not providing a other solution; but Parallels was able to bring up a solution for Apple having changing their network stack.

[lanceasbury9924]

So both NAT and Bridged have been broken for months and VMWare has not done anything to resolve these issues. I've since switched to VirtualBox which has no problems so far with networking.