No driver for network card in Windows 10 (migrated from VirtualBox)

[Ihor_Bobak]

I have recently bought the VMWare workstation pro and migrated one of my guest machines from VirtualBox  (did export to ova, then opened in VMware and started it).  The guest OS is Windows 10,  the host OS is Ubuntu 20.04.

The problem is as follows:   the network card in the guest VM doesn't have a driver (although in VirtualBox it was OK).

I can't update this driver because it can't connect to the internet, and how to get it and from where - I have no idea.  I also tried to search for it in VMware-tools-windows-11.3.0-18090558.iso  disk -  it doesn't find them there too.  

The screenshot from Windows VM is attached.  If anyone  knows how to help that - I'd be grateful.

[bluefirestorm]

From the log, it cannot find Ethernet1.

2021-08-14T20:04:42.826+03:00| vmx| I005: DUMPER: Group 'Ethernet1' not found.

Looks like Ethernet0 is recognised as an AMD adapter (vendor ID 0x1022).

The vendor ID of VMware is 0x15AD. So a vmxnet3 adapter should have that vendor ID.

It best to shut down the VM (not just suspend), before making changes to the VM (whether by GUI or by manual edit of the vmx file).

I would suggest do either one of the following, remove the network adapter (using the GUI) and then add the network adapter again. Or manually edit the vmx. Try the GUI method first.

If you want vmxnet3 as your adapter type. The line

ethernet0.virtualdev = "vmxnet3"

has to be there for the corresponding adapter.

The vmx file is missing the virtualDev entry for ethernet0. Its value is either e1000, e1000e or vmxnet3. The adapters e1000 and e1000e are virtualised Intel adapters.

[Ihor_Bobak]

Thank you very much for your answer.  It helped to add manually this line into the vmx file:

ethernet0.virtualdev = "vmxnet3"

If I used  GUI to add/remove the network - it simply did not help.

By the way, is there any performance difference of which adapter is set - vmxnet3, e1000 or e1000e ?  I mean, should I prefer to set one over the other? 

[bluefirestorm]

I have not done any performance benchmark to compare the different virtual adapter types. I doubt for desktop VM use that it will be noticeably different. The vmxnet3 can support 10Gbps speed (it will even show as such in the Windows 10 VM), but ultimately it comes down to the physical NIC that you have on the host. For example, one can't expect to get anywhere near 10Gbps network throughput in the VM if the VM is using 867Mbps WiFi on the host.

The e1000 and e1000e have drivers built in to the Windows operating system and does not require VMware Tools installed. AFAIK, Windows 10 does not include the VMware vmxnet3 adapter driver; althoughl lately there has been VMware driver updates delivered through Windows Update (such as the SVGA 3D adapter driver).

[MilleSabord]

Hello,  i have the same trouble on vmware workstation 16.2.5, my host is a Mint Linux and the VM a Windows 10 up to date, the line ethernet0.virtualdev = "e1000" was missing in the vmx, i add it, but now the VM freeze at boot time.

I have previously installed the vmware tools. I can't find a solution.

Thank for your help