Unable to reach VM machine from other computers

[DEH00]

I have created a Linux virtual machine using VMware Workstation 17 Player. I can connect from the VM to the internet and from the machine the VM is running on to the VM. However I want to be able to connect to the VM from a separate machine.

[scott28tt]

Be clear on “connect”?

Can you ping from the VM OS to the OS on the other machine by IP address?

What is the VM network configuration set as?

[Technogeezer]

Do you have the Linux VM configured with NAT or Bridged networking?

NAT networking does not expose your virtual machine to other systems on the network that the Host can reach. Try using Bridged networking instead. 

(or else you'll have to get familiar with configuring port forwarding for the NAT networking and how to use it - but I'm not 100% sure if that can be done from Workstation Player, though - you might need Professional). 

[DEH00]

I can ping another device from the VM, but I am unable to ping the VM OS from another device. If I run the network configuration as bridged networking, I end up with a bad IP address for the VM (169.254.252.106) and cannot access the VM.

[Technogeezer]

Then you will have to configure NAT port.forwarding for the applications you want to use on the VM.  

If your bridged network is giving you a 169.254.x.x IP address, it's not a bad IP address; rather the DHCP server on your network isn't giving the VM an IP address. There are instances where DHCP servers won't hand out an IP address to a second MAC address (like a virtual network adapter) on the same port.

If you assign a static IP address to the VM on the same network as your host, can you then ping the VM?