bridged networking not working - options

[chedderslam]

I am having an issue getting an ubuntu guest to properly connect to the network via a bridged connection.  Found a couple of threads:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/313037

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1543220#1543220

There is mention of a network configuration tool, and the recommendation to go to workstation instead of player.

I don't mind going to workstation, but what happens when my 30 trial runs out?  Do you lose any features or what?  I'm just using it at home right now, so I am not sure what the licensing terms are and what not.

If it would be better to just get player working, here is a bit more info:

- 2 ethernet ports on the host machine, using one for all traffic

- I am also playing with virtualbox as well as using xp mode in windows virtual pc, so there are a lot of adapters and the like installed.

I have considered just uninstalling player, getting rid of all the network stuff it has set up, and then installing either player of workstation, if that would be easiest.

Of course, I don't mind working through the issue with help from here as I love to learn more, really the reason I am playing with it in the first place.

Thank you for any help.

[WoodyZ]

The issue is related to multihomed systems and the default automatic bridging of VMnet0 which doe not work properly on a multihomed system and why you need to disable it using the Virtual Network Editor.

At the end of the free 30 day trial you cannot run any Virtual Machines using VMware Workstation however you can continue to use the VMware Player that is also bundled with VMware Workstation and also use many of the VMware Workstation GUI features to manage things like easy access to the Virtual Network Editor and the additional settings available that are not available with VMware Player alone.

Or you can just extract the vmnetcfg.exe (Virtual Network Editor) from the network.cab file and place it in the VMware Player working directory and make a shortcut to it if you want.

VMware-player*.exe /extract c:\vmplayer.tmp

[chedderslam]

Thank you very much for the response.

I have gone ahead in installed workstation.

After install, I now have two VMWare adapters showing in my network adapters, as I did with the player installed:

VMware Network Adapter VMnet1

VMware Network Adapter VMnet8

Why are there two of them and what are there purpose?  Should I disable one to make life easier?

Thank you.

[WoodyZ · Accepted solution]

To gain a better understanding of the VMware Virtual Network Infrastructure I'd strongly suggest you read Chapters 14 (Configuring a Virtual Network) & 15 (Advanced Virtual Networking) in the Workstation User's Manual much less the rest of the documentation. (Also available in the VMware Workstation Help File.)

Then if you want to disable them it's up to you.  Just as an example I have one particular system that I never use anything but Bridged for the Virtual Machines that are running as they are supplying Services on the LAN so I have disabled VMnet1 and VMnet8 however if you intend to use NAT and or Host-Only then you'll need them.

[chedderslam]

Thank you very much.