How many VM can be bridged to a single physical network adapter?

[Viiv]

Hello all,

I am using VM player for running three guests (all Windows XP Pro). All the guests have been bridged to a single host network adapter (host is also Windows XP pro). When I try to run another guest, it fails to get IP address from the DHCP server.

It doesn’t matter if all or none of the first three guests run simultaneously. The fourth and later guests can not get IP, even it is the only guest running. I have reinstalled every things (even host operating system), but no solution so far. By the way, there is no conflict between virtual machines and other computers at the network.

Is there any limit on the number of VM to be bridged to a physical NIC?

[continuum]

Check if the DHCP server uses a mac-filter or something that only allows upto 3 IPs per physical nic - doesn't look like a VMware-issue - I had used scenarios with more than 3 guests bridged

[Viiv]

Thanks for the reply!

As far as I know, each VM has its own MAC address. On the DHCP server, each VM is registered as a separate real machine with different MAC address. How could a MAC-filter program find out that some VMs are bridged to a physical NIC on a host and then limit them to get IP address?