Vista 64 + VMWare workstation 6.5 = loss of network discovery

[daveqe]

Hi all

Am running Vista 64 here and recently installed latest VMware Workstation (v6.5) and have found that Vista's Network Discovery/Sharing etc is switch off by VMware Workstation.

Network discovery/sharing can be turned on again, but once the system restarts, VMware is switching the networking off again : (

I've done a quick search on the forums for the same/similar problems and this has been reported before but all the threadsI read, there was not a solution posted : (

I wonder if anyone does have a fix/workaround for this (guessing it also happens in Vista 32?)... would be much obliged : )

[Scissor]

I think Network Discovery/Sharing is turned off when Vista thinks that you are connected to an Unidentified or Public network. This can happen after VMware installs the two additional VMware virtual network adapters on your host.

You can manually tell Vista that it is back on a Private network, but that change does not persist over reboots.

If you only use Bridged networking with your Guests, the easiest thing to do I've found is to disable the two additional VMware Virtual Network Adapters that are installed with Workstation.

Alternatively, you can make the registry changes suggested on page 3 of this forum thread: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/85154?tstart=0&start=0

Let us know if that fixes the problem.

[daveqe]

Many thanks for the reply and info. I'll try those suggestions you made and see what happens.

Thing is though, I don't seem to remember this problem with previous versions of VMw I've tried and was surprised to see others raising the issue in versions back as far as 6.02.

I cant remember if Network Discovery is on or off by default in Windows Vista, but this problem is directly caused by VMware and as you suggest, and as I mentioned in my first post, switching things back on only lasts until a re-boot : (

Thanks again for the info. I'll report back what I find when I try out your suggestions.

[daveqe]

Update (fixed)

Many thanks for the info... Vista's network discovery etc is staying on after using your suggestion of turning off VMw's network controllers.

[hime3]

I am a new VMware user. After installing VMware Workstation v6.51 Vista Network Discovery was turned off after rebooting. After disabling the 2 Adapters, turning Network Discovery on and rebooting, Network Discovery remained on.

My question: what vm performance and operations are prevented by disabling the 2 Adapters? Will VMware issue a fix in the near term so that the Adapters and Network Discovery will not require manual action to deal with the problem?

[Lawrence]

the 2 VMware adapters are for NAT and host only networking. VMware and Microdoft don't have anything to 'fix' (Well, MS does, but that is a whole 'nuther subject, and then again so does VMware , so let's leave that alone for the moment). Network discovery in Vista is for simple stuff/environements, and if you are installing VMware with options for NAt, bridging and host-only netowrking, that by defintion is way beyond simple. So both functioning as designed. Rather than further hijacking of this thread, if you have more questions, please search on these terms or start a new thread.

[InforMed_Direct]

Hi all

Am running Vista 64 here and recently installed latest VMware Workstation (v6.5) and have found that Vista's Network Discovery/Sharing etc is switch off by VMware Workstation.

Network discovery/sharing can be turned on again, but once the system restarts, VMware is switching the networking off again : (

I've done a quick search on the forums for the same/similar problems and this has been reported before but all the threadsI read, there was not a solution posted : (

I wonder if anyone does have a fix/workaround for this (guessing it also happens in Vista 32?)... would be much obliged : )

I thought I was going mad! I'm a little unfamiliar with Vista and I'm currently trying to build a new PC for a software developer that will basically be used to run multiple VMs. The PC has got 8GB of RAM so it can handle this so it's got Vista 64 bit. All it's got installed is the basic OS, patches and VMware workstation. Trying to copy the VMs across using robocopy kept failing.

Let's hope the registry fix works...

Is this a Vista 64 bit problem or is it all flavours of Vista? Might be tempted to put Windows XP 64 bit on. Doesn't do anything to make me feel better about Vista

Cheers, Rob.