VM Workstation lost network connection to host

[mike_k]

Most - but not all - of my VM Workstation guest OS's are no longer able to get on the host network.

This is a typical guest IPCONFIG /ALL listing:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : CCITNVMXP2CLONE

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0C-29-B1-F2-14

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255

Each VM instance is for bridged networking and DHCP. I use 6 VMs all the time and this has always worked until last week, when my host machine locked up for no apparent reason and I had to use Windows Restore to throw the machine back one month.

If I set a VM to use static IP, it creates the network IP address, but still can't ping the host on the same subnet, so it appears the Winsock stack is smashed for some reason.

Any way to recover from this without trashing each VM and starting over?

[KevinG]

What is your host OS?

If you reinstall VMware, it will not delete your VM's

How is your host connected to the local network / internet? (Cable modem, DSL, Router, Switch..etc)

What type of virtual networking are you using in the VM's?

(Bridged, Host-Only or NAT )

[mike_k]

Host OS is XP SP2, and the local network is through a gigabit switch. Internet access is via DLS router.

Each VM is set for Bridged networking. Depending on what I use a particular VM for, it may need access to the local network only, or Internet for browsing or VPN access to remote sites. I don't even get DHCP addresses (supplied by the DSL router) anymore, so the VMs can't even talk to their own host.

[mike_k]

no resolution.

[rsa911]

Did you checked your DHCP range is large enough ?

reboot your router

you may want to check your Vms have not changed from MAC Address, as it would be a separate DHCP lease, possibly filling up the range...

[mikey33]

I just ran into the same problem!

Running Windows 2003 server. I have 4 VM Workstations (Win2003 servers) running on One Dell Server. Something happened 2 days ago with VM Workstation #4 and I had to reboot it. No more network connection after that. Can't see the gateway and can't pickup DHCP address. The other 3 VM Workstations are still working using the same physical network connection on the same physical machine.

I can assign static IP, but machine still will not see network. It is like a physical disconnect. Kept getting "Destination host unreachable." when I ping the gateway.

Software logic problem with VMWare? All my configuration on the 2003 server looks good.

Message was edited by:

mikey33

[charrington]

I am also experiencing this network connection failure. From XP Professional client to Server 2003 R2 host