Client is not isolated from Host - VMWare Workstation Pro 14 (Player)

[JML54]

I had an interesting event take place today (5/30/2018).

Specifically:

• Launched the VMWARE Workstation Pro 14 Player.
• Booted my Windows 10 Pro client.
  • Default for the Client is no internet connection.
• Worked for some time, and suddenly w/o warning, the Start Menu power button displayed:
  • Shutdown and install updates.
  • Restart and install updates.

Now what is unusual about this is:

1. At no time during the execution of the Client was it ever connected to the internet via Bridged or NAT connection.
2. At no time during the execution of the Client was internet access attempted.

I have three VM Clients defined.

I launched a 2nd one, also with a default of no network access (I have to manually establish the connection.)

I did not establish the connection, either NAT or Bridged.

Three hours later, went back to it to shut it down.

Start Menu power button on the Windows 10 Pro Client displayed:

• Shutdown and install updates.
• Restart and install updates.

The initial Client was a new/update install for Windows 10 Pro v1803. At the time of installation, all updates were applied. The creation of the VM took place three days ago (5/27/2018).

Needed software was installed and tested after connection made thru a Bridged connection. Only NAT and Bridged are configured and the base VMWare product configuration is defined for both.

So, here is the real question:

• Why would the VM Client NOT honor the isolation protocols (copy/paste is also turned off between the Host and the Client)?
• How could Windows 10 Pro v1803 breach the isolation protocols configured and in place and active at time of launch?
• What changes in v1803 or VMWare Workstation Pro 14 (v14.1.2 Build-8497320) would permit the breach of isolation between host and client?
• Could it be VMWare Tools (also installed following update to v14.1.2) be the component which breaches the isolation protocols defined by the Administrator of the system?

To confirm the observations, the following was undertaken, though I have no sophisticated Network snooping capabilities. What I did find:

• At the time the client was active and isolated, I found that a breach appeared to be present based upon the client list provided by my router (ASUS AC-3100). My platform is an ASUS motherboard, ROG Zenith Extreem, BIOS is current as of 5/28/2018, with a Ryzen 1950X CPU installed, running fTPM; including 64GB DDR4 with 22TB on-online access.

Any suggestions?

Any recommendations?

Jim