Hello all - A problem and a workaround. Would be glad to know of a solution.
The problem:
Whenever I return to the computer after it had gone to sleep, there is no network connection in the guest. It reports a message similar to. "the local area connection is disconnected".
The Workaround:
I was delighted to find out that pausing and resuming the virtual machine reconnects the network connection.
The Settings:
Host is Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit SP 1.
Host Power Options is "Balanced": Display off after 10 minutes, computer to sleep after 30 minutes.
Guest is Windows XP SP 3.
Guest power options are: Turn off monitor after 20 minutes, Turn off hard disks: Never, System Standby: Never. Hibernation is disabled.
VMware Workstation 9 build-812388. AFAIR the problem also occurred on Workstation 8, but I've just now discovered the workaround.
VM Networking is Bridged with "Replicate" checked.
Note: See also http://communities.vmware.com/thread/333551, before I discovered the workaround.