noob virtualization question

[Elevator]

I was wondering, if I am connected to the internet using a virtual machine, is the host machine then also connected to the internet?

Like if I boot up a host windows machine that has open ports and running services, and run a virtual OSX in vmware player and browse the internet, is my host windows machine and all of it's running services exposed to the network? Trying to get a grasp on how this works from a security standpoint.

My interest is to have a way to access the internet and be able to download and print, without the risk of having the host machine on the network. Will vmware player do this? Could I just use a browser appliance for this duty or would I need a guest OS in wmware player?

Thanks

[continuum]

> and run a virtual OSX in vmware player ...

that would be illegal - running MAC VMs is only allowed on MAC hardware

> Could I just use a browser appliance for this duty or would I need a guest OS in wmware player?

a browser appliance is nothing but a guestOS - to run a browser you need a guestOS first

Wel - it is possible to run a guest completely isolated from the host OS.
To do that you would need a USB-networkcard or WLAN device and attach that one directly to the guest