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jhdale
Contributor
Contributor
‎09-23-2007 02:06 PM

Installing Workstation 5.5.5 removed existing Network Connections on Windows XP SP2

Installing Workstation 5.5.5 removed existing Network Connections on Windows XP SP2

I've gotten past the problem by cleaning up and installing 5.5.4, but here are details, in case this hits someone else, or someone can shed some light on the problem or how to avoid it. Apparently someone else ran into a similar problem installing Workstation 6 .

When I installed VMware Workstation 5.5.5 (build 56455), it removed all existing network connections, both Ethernet, WiFi, and virtual private network, leaving my machine unable to connect to the network. After the install, the only network connections present were those installed by VWware.

I tried several things along the way, starting with:

  • Removed VMware.

Here are a few steps that I think did not help:

  • Tried System Restore, which was unable to restore.

  • Reset TCP (as mentioned in a KB article ). This did not solve problem.

And here is what I think solved the problem:

  • Removed the affected devices drivers, except the VPN . This is, right-click My Computer; Manage; Device Manager; Network adapters. Then right click each broken adapter (LAN and WiFi, in my case) and Uninstall.

  • Rebooted Windows, letting it re-install the device drivers and automatically set up the network connections.

  • Customized network connections as usual, and removed and reinstalled my VPN software.

  • Installed VMware 5.5.4 (after having previously removed 5.5.5).

Apparently the adapter device drivers were corrupted. As I recall, Windows Help says that it is not possible to tell whether a device driver is corrupted by looking at it, and recommends uninstall of adapter driver and reboot to rebuild when this is suspected.

I suspect I could gotten have by without uninstalling VMware 5.5.5, and simply uninstalled the network adapter drivers and then rebooted to let Windows reinstall (apart form the VPN software, which had to be reinstalled to replace the corresponding network adapter). I may try and report on this later.

Possible factors

  • I did not disable my firewall (Symantec Client Firewall) or antivirus (Symantec) before installing VMware Workstation 5.5.5.

  • I was running Access Connections 4.41 on Thinkpad T61 (Model 7663). Someone previously reported a similar occurrence when installing Workstation 6 on a Thinkpad T60p running Access Connections, reporting it worked fine for Workstation 5.5 (this was before release of 5.5.5) .

  • I was running AT&T Network Client 6.0.9.3006, which provides an additional Network Connection.

  • Host OS: Windows XP SP2.

  • Adapters: Intel(R) 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection; Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AG

References: In

http://communities.vmware.com/message/642839

For "resetting TCPIP", see Response by Rick Webster 2007-05-30

For similar occurance on Workstation 6.0, see Response by allersj 2007-05-11

Message was edited by: jhdale to add references.

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