VMware Communities
vmfh
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Importing VM with custom vnet from Fusion in Workstation

I created a CentOS machine on Fusion 7 with a custom interface, that I'd like to use on Workstation 12+. The custom vnet doesn't seem to be automatically (re)created, so I tried configuring it on Virtual Network Editor, but the interface doesn't show on CentOS, although it's already configured there. What am I missing?

Reply
0 Kudos
30 Replies
vmfh
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Can anyone help? Do I need to reinstall VMware Tools?

Reply
0 Kudos
diegodco31
Leadership
Leadership

I recommend installing vmtools.

VMware Fusion 7 and VMware Fusion 7 Professional Release Notes

Open VMware Tools included in some recent versions of Linux, such as CentOS 7, might prevent file sharing (HGFS), drag-and-drop, or cut and paste from working correctly.

Workaround: Uninstall the open-vm-tools package and install the latest version of the included VMware Tools.

If this answer has helped you, please mark it as answered.

Diego Oliveira
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dcodiego
Reply
0 Kudos
bluefirestorm
Champion
Champion

If you are referring to the "Custom" and "Private to my Mac" in Fusion, the equivalent on Workstation would be "Host Only". There should be no need to reinstall VMware Tools. But if you had assigned static IP inside the VM, it may not match the IP address range on the default Host Only on the Workstation installation. The default Host Only is VMnet1.

How did you "import" the VM over to Workstation? Did you use OVFTool to export from Fusion and then import into Workstation? VMs between Fusion and Workstation are easily interchangeable (provided the VM virtual hardware version are supported on both sides, version 12 for Fusion 8.x/Workstation 12.x and version 14 for Fusion 10.x/Workstation 14.x). A copy of the Fusion VM bundle over to the Workstation would be sufficient and you can removed the .vmwarevm if you want to.

Reply
0 Kudos
vmfh
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

bluefirestorm​, here's an extract of the vmx file

virtualHW.version = "11"

ethernet0.present = "TRUE"

ethernet0.connectionType = "bridged"

ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

ethernet0.startConnected = "TRUE"

ethernet0.vnet = "vmnet9"

The VM interface has a static ip 9.0.0.2/24.

I just copied the vmwarevm bundle from the macOS to the Windows 10 system and opened the vmx file in Workstation.

Given your answer, I suppose I'll have to upgrade the virtual hardware. I have Fusion 7.x and Workstation 12.x. I'll try this next week and report back.

Do I need to beforehand add vmnet9 on Virtual Network Editor or is it automatically created on first run?

Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

You have to create that network vmnet9 on your workstation before you try to use the VM.

Actually you can create it afterwards too, but it is easiest to create the network beforehand, then register the VM.

edit: you don't have to upgrade the hardware before opening it on Workstation 12. Workstation is capable of running virtual machines with older virtual hardware.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
bluefirestorm
Champion
Champion

Echoing what wila has already stated, it is better to create the custom network beforehand and also that the virtual hardware version is backward compatible.

So it is not necessary to upgrade from Fusion 7 to Fusion 10. Fusion 10.x also no longer support certain models of Mac hardware that uses Intel CPUs from 2009 or earlier. So you need to check Mac hardware models that are in the 2010-2012 years for the particular CPU (e.g. one mid-2012 Mac Pro model was sold with a Q4 2009 W3565 Bloomfield CPU). There is also beta (called the 2018 Technology Preview) of the next Fusion release.

You can upgrade the hardware version from Workstation Pro through the VM menu -> Manage. There should also be a link to "Upgrade hardware version" on the VM tab just above the virtual hardware specifications.

Hardware version 12 adds OpenGL 3.3 core profile capability for a Linux VM provided the underlying host hardware supports DX11/OpenGL 4.x and 3D acceleration is enabled on the VM display settings.

Both Fusion 10.x and Workstation 12.5.9 also exposes the microcode to the VM for protection against the Spectre assuming the host machine has the host Intel CPU has the microcode updates.

Of course, there is always the capability to re-create the VM on Workstation Pro by creating a custom virtual machine and then choose "Use existing virtual disk" to choose the VM virtual disk that you had already copied over.

Reply
0 Kudos
vmfh
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

wila​, the VM doesn't work on Workstation 12 with the custom vnet created on Fusion 7, virtual hw version 11, even after adding the vnet on Virtual Network Editor.

Is there a table indicating the compatibility of virtual hardware for Fusion, Workstation, etc somewhere?

Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Define "doesn't work" ?

I take it you mean that the VM starts, but you get no network connectivity?

I've done  this type of thing a lot, moving from Fusion to Workstation (and back again) and never had any issues and I also use custom networks.

VMware workstation can run any VM that has the current or older hardware configuration, at times I will spin up older VMs made with earlier versions of VMware Server, Fusion, Workstation or vSphere. It is ALL compatible and is an important feature of VMware virtualisation.

Being able to bring your VM to another host, irregardless of the host OS or VMware product.

Does it help if you switch the network card to normal bridged, save and then set it to vmnet9 again?

(On comparing some VMs here between Workstation and Fusion I notice that it uses "VMnet2" on windows and "vmnet2" on Fusion, so perhaps that is biting you)

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
vmfh
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Define "doesn't work" ?

I take it you mean that the VM starts, but you get no network connectivity?

That's correct. In CentOS I see the interface by running ifconfig -a but, although configured, it doesn't show an IP address nor is up (AFAIR, I don't have access to the VM right now).

It is ALL compatible and is an important feature of VMware virtualisation.

Being able to bring your VM to another host, irregardless of the host OS or VMware product.

Also done that, used VMs between Fusion and ESXi, but never on Workstation.

Does it help if you switch the network card to normal bridged, save and then set it to vmnet9 again?

Already tried it, doesn't work. I'm starting to think it's a CentOS problem, as a quick search in the forums seemed to hint at.

(On comparing some VMs here between Workstation and Fusion I notice that it uses "VMnet2" on windows and "vmnet2" on Fusion, so perhaps that is biting you)

Also tried editing the vmx file for that. There's a property for display name for "VMnetx".

As of now, I see 3 possible solutions: reinstalling VMware Tools (cumbersome as VM doesn't have a CD), upgrading virtual hardware version (pretty straightforward) and recreating the VM as bluefirestorm​ suggested (last to try) — but I rather identify the problem. Any logs or debug I could use?

Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

OK, on startup of the VM did you answer copy or move when it asked you where the VM came from?

Because when you answer "copy" it will change the MAC address of the NIC and in that case your CentOS will consider it a brand new network adapter that you will have to reconfigure.

So in recap, normally you would answer "move" there unless you want to consider it a new VM that you have to reconfigure.

The help text there suggests "copy" if you don't know, but quite often that does not do what you want.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
vmfh
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

OK, on startup of the VM did you answer copy or move when it asked you where the VM came from?

I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure that it just ran when I opened the vmx file without showing that message. Does it always ask? I know it does on Fusion, but I barely used Workstation.

Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Yes it does always ask AFAIK.

You can compare the MAC address between your Fusion copy and the Workstation copy in the vmx file if you want to know if Workstation changed the hardware ID's.

Those id's are stored in the vmx file.


What version of CentOS are we talking about here?

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
vmfh
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

As soon as I have access to the VM, I'll check the MAC addresses.

It's CentOS 6.9.

Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

OK, assuming we're talking about the eth0 device then the mac address of your VM in the vmx file would have to match the mac address in the file:

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

If the device is eth1 then change the filename accordingly.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
vmfh
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

As soon as I have access to it, I'll check that and report back. Let's hope it's only PEBKAC. Thanks so far.

Reply
0 Kudos
vmfh
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

wila​, I realised a couple of things:

1. Workstation 12 doesn't prompt to check if a VM was copied or moved.

2. The attached ethernet interface was eth1, so I had to rename /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 in CentOS 6.

3. The MAC address on ifcfg-eth1 and vmx file need to be corrected with the VM's ethernet hardware.

All this should have been automatically checked and adjusted (interactively if necessary) by Workstation.

Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

re. Suprised that Workstation doesn't prompt, it should.

Difficult for VMware to change this as it is different in almost every Linux distribution, even among distribution versions.

This is why I asked which version of centOS you ran as it is different in centOS 7.

It's up to Linux to handle this with grace and that's just not always the case.

But do I understand from your reply that you got it to work now?

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
vmfh
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

^ Well, I don't know why CentOS 6 has eth0 on Fusion 7 and eth1 on Workstation 12. It doesn't seem to be distro dependent.

And I didn't modify all the ethernet0.* keys I had in the original vmx file from Fusion 7, but only the MAC address.

If you open a VM from a different hypervisor in Workstation 12, does it ask you if it's been copied or moved?

And, yes, it works now.

I still have a problem with the custom vnet being proxied for http (GPO) and I cannot modify the PAC file. I still have to check --proxy-bypass-list on Chromium. But I don't know if such a problem could be posted here.

Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

If you change the MAC address then CentOS 6 considers it a new network card.

That means changing from eth0 to eth1.

Newer Linux's such as CentOS 7 have another naming scheme for ethernet, there it is depended on the PCI slot.

See also:

https://www.ehowstuff.com/new-naming-scheme-for-the-network-interface-on-rhel-7centos-7/

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos