Connect Two Virtual Machines via LAN connection Using VMWare Player

[vihurricane]

So this topic may already be posted, but I am at wit's end trying to find a solution. I have VMWare player 3.1.4 installed on a Windows 7 enterprise_x64 system. I have configured two virtual machines: Guest OS1: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5.5_x64 and Guest OS2: WIndows 7 Ultimate_x64. I need teh Linux server to act as the core server in the system environment I'm trying to create. The Windows 7 VM will be the client PC. The Linux server is configured to be it's own DHCP server, so ideally, the client PC would log into tht domain and also derive its IP address from the Linux server.

I have tried all of the networkign options for each VM, but none sem to create this kind of connectivity. How do I configure the Network settings in VMWare Player so that the two VMs can communicate with each other via a virtual network? (Communication with the host pc isn't neccessary)

[Gerrit_Lehr]

I don't see why this should not work with a normal setup. If you choose bridged networking(vmnet0), both VM behave just as if thed had their own NIC connected to the physical Switch which the host is connected to, thus it will look and act like you had all three systems on one switch. If you want to have the host seperated from the VMs, you can use a host-only vswitch to connect them.

[WoodyZ · Accepted solution]

The short answer is to manually install the missing vmnetcfg.exe, Virtual Network Editor, and configure VMnet2 without DHCP and Host vNIC and then manually configure each Virtual Machine's Network Adapter to use Custom VMnet2.

The longer answer has already been given so many times that you should be able to find the detailed directions, however...

To install the missing vmnetcfg.exe, Virtual Network Editor, execute VMware-player-*.exe -e c:\vmptmp from a command line and then in the c:\vmptmp folder locate the c:\vmptmp\network.cab file and extract (double-click the .cab file) the vmnetcfg.exe (Virtual Network Editor) file to the VMware Player working directory usually "C:\Program Files\VMware/VMware Player" You can create a shortcut for it and place it with the VMware Player  shortcut if you want easier access to it.  This utility is not installed by default however is needed to disable automatic bridging on VMnet0 if the system is multihomed and two or more Host Physical NIC's are active or you want to change the Subnet Addresses of VMnet1 or VMnet8 or modify additional VMnets.

The you need to manually edit each Virtual Machine's .vmx configuration file in Notepad modifying one existing parameter and adding another.

Change:

ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"

To:

ethernet0.connectionType = "custom"

Add:

ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet2"

Note: Whatever connectionType ethernet(n) is showing it needs to be changed to "custom".

Also make sure the Virtual Machine's are shutdown, not suspended and VMware Player is closed when editing the .vmx configuration files.

Here are a few images to demonstrate.

Here in the Virtual Network Editor VMnet2 is selected and is how it should be if you what to use your own DHCP Server and the Host not have a vNIC.  You can change the IP Address to suite your needs.

Here is Virtual Machine Settings Network Adapter set to NAT.

Here is what the Virtual Machine Settings Network Adapter will look like after editing the Virtual Machine's .vmx configuration file to use Custom VMnet2.

BTW If you change the Virtual Machine Settings Network Adapter via the GUI from Custom to something else you will then have to manually edit the .vmx configuration file to get it back.   With VMware Workstation you do not need to manually install the Virtual Network Editor and would not need to manually edit the .vmx configuration file as the Custom List Box is always present and shows all VMnets to select from.

[vihurricane]

Thank you Woody. That worked like a charm. All I really needed was to extractt he Virtual Network Editor and I could connect my VMs together by disabling the Virtual DHCP server.

Thanks again!

[WoodyZ]

All I really needed was to extractt he Virtual Network Editor and I could connect my VMs together by disabling the Virtual DHCP server.

Then I'm assuming that you modified either VMnet1 or VMnet8 and just an FYI...  As a general rule when using a customized VMnet it is better to leave the defaults on VMnet1 and VMnet8 and use VMnet2 ~ VMnet7 and or VMnet9.  Now this obviously is not carved in stone and if you remain aware of the changes you've made and how it impacts what VMware Player expects to have when creating default configurations and have an understanding of what you're doing then go for it.  This of course would be so much easier if one didn't have to manually edit the .vmx configuration file to take advantage of VMnet2 ~ VMnet7 and or VMnet9 with VMware Player.

[vihurricane]

Hi Woody. Sorry for the late reply. Actually, I didn't need to go into the modification steps you outlined in your post. Once I was able to install the Virtual Network Configuration Tool, I was able to disable the Virtual DHCP server, which then allowed the DHCP server running on one of my VMs to take over. So, no modification of VMnet1 or VMnet8 was necessary.

[Bangs777]

hi woodyz,

I have encountered a problem using the methods you described for interconnecting virtual machines in a private lan.I use a vmware workstation 9. I connected three virtual machines;two running  windows server 2008 and a windows 7 to a custom vmnet2 at power off. The vmnet 2 has been configured for host-only (connect vms internally in a private lan) using the virtual network editor as you described properly with the screenshot. The fact of the matter is ;pinging is succesful only from my 2nd vm(server 2008) and 3rd vm(windows 7) to the 1st vm(server 2008),not in another way,unsucccesful pinging from 1st to 2nd or 3rd vm nor with pinging from 2nd to 3rd or vice versa. Is there something i miss out.

I could use your help as early as possible.