How switch Wi-Fi/NIC with auto-bridging

[SommyJo]

On a old PC I had Windows 10 Pro with WS 15.x Pro.

I created a VM with a firewall using three Virtual NICs.

V-NIC 1 is connected to the Internet (Red network)

V-NIC2 is connected to a real switch for sharing with other PCs and printers (Green network)

V-NIC 3 is connected to other virtual machines (Orange Network)

The PC has two NICs and the Wi-Fi adapter.

So,

V-NIC 3 is Host-Only.

V-NIC2 is Bridged with the NIC2 of the PC.

V-NIC1 is Auto-Briging (VMNet0).

All three V-NICs have a static IP.

I have used this configuration before for one year and it worked without problems and without ever changing the firewall or VM configuration.

When hardware NIC1 is directly connected to the switch of a router / modem, Internet traffic was transmitted by this NIC.

When I was traveling, I activated the hotspot of my smartphone and the Internet traffic passed by Wi-Fi Adapter.

Both the router and the smartphone use the same network (192.168.43.0) and have the same gateway address 192.168.43.1

On this new PC (always Windows 10 Pro with WS 15.5 Pro) the same configuration does not work and I only have Internet traffic using the NIC1 + router.

If I use the smartphone hotspot, the PC navigates via Wi-Fi, but both the firewall and the VMs in the DMZ do not go on the Internet.

Perhaps there is a configuration error because, stupidly, I copied everything from the old PC except for the configuration of the Virtual Networks and maybe the configuration was different and evidently I remember badly.

[continuum · Accepted solution]

The auto-bridging function is using a poorly selected label "automatic bridging" - the function picks a working connection at install time and sticks to it.

There is no automatic switching if that nic fails or is unavailable.

So just regard that function as a bluff and get used to selecting the correct device manually.

[SommyJo]

Thanks for the reply.

But I can't explain why it worked without problems for over a year.

What do you think I should use now?

[continuum]

Connect vmnet0 to the nic that has internet connection

[SommyJo]

But in doing so then all the VMs that use VMnet0 undergo change.

Meanwhile, I tried to create two new VNet: a VNet named Red-NIC and a VNet named Red-WiFi. Both in bridge.

In doing so I only have to change the settings in the Firewall VM only and only the settings of its VNIC1.

To work it works.

The only thing is that Windows 10 no longer passes through the firewall and always navigates using the NIC or WiFi directly.

My fault!

I had at least noted the configuration, I wouldn't waste so much time now.

[continuum]

> But in doing so then all the VMs that use VMnet0 undergo change.

Right - thats why this bluff function is so anoying - everybody knows it and nothing gets done about this.

[SommyJo]

Many thanks for the suggestions.

So, I keep the new configuration with two new VNets to replace when needed.