Internet-access for guest OS in VMWare

[dreamy_betty]

Hey there guys,

I've been reading the hexus-page for a few weeks now and after running in a major problem with my system, I thought I'd try to find some help in this great community.

The concept is simple: I've got a VMWare workstation and set up one virtual pc within, a fresh installation of Windows XP Professional. Now I'd like to access not only the local network (which already works) but also the Internet from this sandbox.

My private network consists of a fileserver, my PC, sometimes one laptop and additional access for friends when they come over here. As all these computers don't necessarily need Internet access my PC is directly connected and sometimes others connect through me by a shared vpn-connection (which means a dsl-dialup).

Not I've set up VMWare to use the "Bridged" network-type for my guest system and used the same data to connect it to my private network. This works great so far, I'm able to access the shared printer, the fileserver etc.

Only connecting to the internet won't do and I have no idea why. The network was set up exactly like the other systems are when they use my shared Internet connection, also my personal firewall has a whitelist for the whole C-zone 192.168.0.* which is used here.

Does anyone here have any clue as to where this block may exist? I've tried disabling all and any software which may block network access without success. Any help is certainly appreciated.

Regards, Bettina

[directhex]

just configure the virtual machine to use NAT - it's the easiest option, and will JustWork(tm)

[arthurleung]

Edit: Just checked when using bridged connection it request an IP from the router just like all other systems.

Try ping inside your virtual machine to sites like www.hexus.net and see if it goes through?

Destination host unreachable => Firewall blocked it probably
Unknown host => Firewall blocked DNS lookup / DNS server not setup properly
Ping timed out => Again firewall

[dreamy_betty]

First off, thank you for answering this quickly.

I don't use DHCP in my private network but use static IP addresses which works quite well so far.

For "protection" I use Norton Anti Virus 2006 (which includes some kind of security center with worm protection etc) and the McAfee PersonalFirewall Plus. Both of those have been deactivated for testing purposes already but as this didn't change anything, I didn't bother with searching my problems here.

Ping for "www.hexus.net" returns a unknown host error. Ping for "84.12.5.240" which is the IP returns a request timeout.

I have yet to try the NAT way of sharing the Internet connection but that is stuff for later this day.

[arthurleung]

I re-read your thread again just now.

Not sure will this work,
Try bridge your vmnet0 to your internal lan adapter (in virtual network setting), then you do exectly the same thing you do to other computers to your network.

The default bridge setting is supposely point to the internet enabled adapter which means it will ask your ISP for an address, which obviously won't work.

[dreamy_betty]

Oh god yes!!! This was the problem indeed, I got two NICs in my PC which point to the DSL-Modem (10.0.0.140) and another one which connects with the switch (192.168.0.1) - so these are obviously two entirely different networks. Naturally, I had used the second one for vmnet0 and after switching, Internet access was indeed available.

On the other hand, this prohibited any connection to the local network, lol.

So I tried again. Uninstalled the VMtools on the guest os, reinstalled them and used NAT with default options and now it works both ways. The only drawback - which in my case is not really one - is that I cannot reach my guest-os from the private network other than from the host pc.

A big thanks and a *hug* to both of you, these solutions made my day!