I am pretty certain that this is a relapse of an old bug that was fixed but somehow creeps back since later release of version 12.2 (somebody mentioned that it was fine with 12.1). I am a long time VMware Fusion user since version 8 and I have just upgraded from version last year. If I could have waited a bit longer to upgrade, I wouldn't have this trouble. Well. It is going to be awkward to explain to my boss why he has to spend another $200 for another upgrade. It doesn't look splendid on VMware, does it?

Fusion 13 Release Notes gives a workaround: "To resolve the issue, restart VMware Fusion". See https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Fusion/13.0/rn/vmware-fusion-130-release-notes/index.html

I opened a support case for this and then, wouldn't you know it, my machine stopped showing the issue.

I was contacted by VMWare after a while to archive the support case to which I agreed, since I couldn't provide the necessary diagnostic information.

Then my machine started to show the problem again! How did it know!

However, after a couple of days of use after upgrading to 13.0.1 I am pretty confident that this problem is now fixed.

If others can confirm that it has been fixed by installing 13.0.1 we can close this topic.

I'm interested if v13 solves this issue.  If it still persists I'm switching to Parallels.  

Can anyone who's upgraded comment? 

If you search the forum, there are reports that 13.0.1 may have fixed this issue. It’s worth a try (using the 30 day eval feature) before you switch.

Having used it for a little while now, I can confirm that Fusion 13.0.1 does NOT fix the problem.

It does however,  seem to dramatically reduce the frequency of occurrence.

I now see 100% vmnet-natd only when there has been some sort of installation work going on within a Windows guest VM. Installing device drivers for a new USB device, applying Windows updates or general software updates such as for Visual Studio - all of these can, but not always, trigger the problem.

Generally, I can use Fusion without seeing 100% for days on end.

So it is a very worthwhile and welcome improvement. But not a fix.

Keep an eye on the CPU meter now and then, or listen out for device fans, or just watch out when you're updating a Windows VM and you should be fine.

However, VMware, if you're listening, it's not fixed.

Agree 13.0.1 still has this problem - seems less frequent- but occurs with both Windows 10 and Linux guests in macOS host

Been a problem for me for a while.  Currently using Fusion 12.2.5 on macOS Ventura 13.6.1.  Sometimes just launching Fusion results in this.  Sometimes I wake up a sleeping VM (Windows or Linux) and find it has no network access.  In these cases, I disconnect the network adapter and run:

sudo /Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmnet-cli --stop
sudo /Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmnet-cli --start

 It's an annoyance that at best wastes time.  It drains my battery and impacts the performance of macOS.

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@wb9tpg1 wrote:

I'm interested if v13 solves this issue.  If it still persists I'm switching to Parallels.  

Can anyone who's upgraded comment? 

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If you're on Apple Silicon (don't know about Intel), Parallels now looks to be a GUI wrapper around macOS's lightweight virtualisation framework.  If you don't mind a little extra effort, this free app (also a wrapper around the built-in virtualisation) might be just as good: https://eclecticlight.co/virtualisation-on-apple-silicon/.  It can even run two macOS VMs concurrently, unlike Parallels.

I've been running 13 for some time and now 13.5.

It's not a complete fix. I have definitely seen it since upgrading. However, I would say that the number of occurrences is now vanishingly small. Not zero, but maybe once or twice since 13 has been released.

Still frustrating when it happens, but I can live with it.

I'd say it happens to me almost every day.  It's become more annoying in the last year.