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VMWare Fusion and network bridging

** UPDATED MARCH 12 2010:  I just posted my solution to this problem here **

I’ve had VMWare Fusion running an image of my work laptop, on my Macbook, for nearly three weeks now. I’ve had no problems at all, running over both NAT and via network bridge.

Until this week.

Now, when I try to use the image over network bridge I get the error “The network bridge on device /dev/vmnet0 is not running”. It still works over NAT but i’m perplexed as to where this problem has come from. No software updates, no network config changes, nothing that I can think would affect this at all.

I started to wonder if it was something to do with being assigned a bridged DHCP on my home lan (10.0.0.X), suspending and being brought up on the work lan under a different subnet completely. Maybe something was going majorly wrong with the bridge device.

I couldn’t/can’t find anything logged anywhere other than the error message above in the vmware.log within the VM image folder.

Running the following command restarts all the vmnet related services:

/Library/Application\ Support/VMWare\ Fusion/boot.sh –restart

You’ll need to sudo that command.

I haven’t found anything on the VMWare community forums to indicate that this has been bugged for fix in a later release so i’m still not entirely sure of the cause…

You might also be interested in these posts:

  1. VMWare Fusion – Network Bridge error finally solved
  2. Laptop consolidation
  3. OS X: Finder won't quit – Logout Timeout
  4. OS X: Finder won't quit (WindowServer process?)

61 Comments

  1. bfz says:

    Thank you, this worked for me too. Wonder why vmware can’t do it himself. Sometimes it looks somewhat stupid.

  2. Macca says:

    I was going to log this with VMWare but haven’t been able to reproduce it since.

  3. [...] /23.02.2008: Another failure, this entry helped I use now wo different network configurations in Leopard: one server based with a [...]

  4. yossi says:

    i would be very grateful if someone could write out in full what i should enter at the prompt in TERMINAL.
    no sudo experience, but getting this problem in 1.1.1
    thanks,
    yossi

  5. Macca says:

    Yossi,

    No problems:

    1. Shutdown VMWare if it is running.
    2. Open terminal.
    3. Enter the following line exactly (this must be entered all on one line in terminal):
    sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/boot.sh –restart
    4. You’ll be prompted for the Administrator password for your Mac – this is usually the first account that was created when you installed OS X.
    5. You’ll see output in terminal as VMWare processes are stopped and then started again, along with the virtual interfaces being assigned their IPs.

    Hope that helps, please let me know.

    Ian

  6. Mark Wilson says:

    I have tried the boot.sh restart but still get the problem :( Was working fine for me until recently too….

  7. Macca says:

    @Mark Wilson – Does the reset complete successfully, as in all the services restart without error?
    Does it not fix it at all?
    If not, you could try removing the virtual interface from the VM. Then running the boot.sh -restart and then add an interface back in, that might kick it too life.
    Finally, search spotlight for ‘vmare.log’ and see if there are any obvious errors in that.
    Feel free to post them up here – the errors that is, not the entire log :)

  8. Tim Jervis says:

    I tried the fix above and didn’t have any luck. Then I remembered the problem appeared about the same time I tried using two virtual processors. I shut down the virtual machine, switched back to one virtual processor, and switched over to “bridged” from “NAT” again. Seems to work, so far. But it could be coincidence; I can’t be sure of the timing or other changes I made.

    I need the bridged mode because with NAT, our HP OfficeJet 7210 scanner won’t communicate with the virtual windows XP machine.

  9. Tim Jervis says:

    Sorry to say the virtual processor switch appears to have made no difference – the problem still recurs at random intervals.

  10. Macca says:

    @Tim Jervis – I’ve not suffered this for almost a month now so i’ve not been able to pin point a root cause nor do any further investigation..
    If you get this again, try shutting down the VM and enable diagnostic logging. This will burn CPU time so don’t leave it on for long, just start the VM up long enough to get the error pop up so you capture the trace.
    There might be something in there indicating a locked file or process.

  11. [...] on the VMWare Fusion. I tried disabling / enabling network to no avail. Luckily I found this blog post which showed me the steps to restart vm. It fixed my problem [...]

  12. Thanks, this fixed my problem right away.

  13. Joseph says:

    There’s a bug filed for this now. (I filed it.)

    No, don’t ask me anything, I’m not in Fusion engineering. :-)

  14. Casey Woods says:

    Worked for me. Thanks!

  15. Once again, thank you for putting this out there! You have saved me much pain and suffering.

  16. Hein Kuenen says:

    Thnx.
    Worked like a charm :-)

  17. Geoff Sensel says:

    Worked for me… I had to restart my Mac after doing the steps in Macca’s post but worked great

  18. JessD says:

    Thanks! Got me running again.

  19. [...] After almost switching to Pararllels, I found the solution at Fine Malt Techr. [...]

  20. RD says:

    I’ve had the issue running an XP VM in Fusion 2.0 GA version.
    I ran this command and after doing it twice I noticed that the VMware network adapter in XP tried to pull a new IP, but did not succeed.
    I also had a few error messages after running the command.
    Then I shut down the guest completely, shut down Fusion. I ran the command again. When I restarted Fusion the VM was set to bridged, but the moment I resumed the guest I had the ugly error pop up again.
    At this point I still have the same problem. Any more ideas?

  21. kvnB says:

    So after I copy and Paste into Teminal, hit enter and then enter password this next line shows up. Usage: /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/boot.sh {–start|–stop|–restart}. I’m guessing it doesn’t like the imput? Opened VMWare to check and nothing has changed. So I imput this instead, /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/boot.sh -restart. And get this response, -bash: /Library/Application: No such file or directory. Any ideas?

  22. Macca says:

    Oh I see – I left out the space indicator in the command:
    /Library/Application\ Support/VMWare Fusion/boot.sh –restart

    Notice the \ after Application.
    Give that a try and let me know how you go..

    –ian

  23. kvnB says:

    Got it working! Needed to put 2 of these ( — ) before restart like this. sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/boot.sh –restart. Thanks for your help. Needed this to work in a hurry!

  24. kvnB says:

    the 2 dashes show as one when I post for some reason. Thanks for your help though!

  25. Kris says:

    Hi all,

    tried sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/boot.sh –restart

    and it did something. But still I can’t use my network connection. It worked a long time ago, but then it stopped working. Since then I never got it to work again. And also this above doesn’t improve. Is there anything about the order of events when I log in to my provider under OS X and then activate VM?

    Quite desperate – any help???
    -kris

  26. Kris says:

    oh and yes, I used the suggested double – which oddly still doesn’t show when posting here…

  27. Macca says:

    Hi Kris,

    What’s the error you get? Also, have you upgraded to the 2.0 release version of Fusion?
    Thirdly, what do you mean by “…log in to my provider..”?

    –ian

  28. RD says:

    Kris et al,

    I finally have it working – the key on my setup was to manually add connection details and “force” VMware to use specific network adapters.
    In my case I first wanted to use it via ppp0 (a UMTS modem via USB stick) and then back home via wireless network.
    There is an excellent knowledge base entry on the VMware website which explained the steps.
    Once I had done that it worked like a charm.

    http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1001875&sliceId=1&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&dialogID=35756018&stateId=1%200%2035748698

    Richard

  29. kris says:

    @macca
    1)Well there’s no specific error message. But I can’t connect to any website or do the McAfee Update.
    2) Yes, it’s 2.0 Fusion
    3) Sorry that wasn’t very clear. I’m using a LAN-Connection to which I have to connect when booting in Mac OS X. That is what I ment by “log in”. Just the normal Lan PPPoE-Connction.

    @RD
    I tried the described steps. Step 7& 8 worked. But I give up at step 12. That’s too confusing for me. Which .vmx-file do they mean? And where exactely do I find it? Is it in the packege of the program file, or is it in the Liprary/Application Support. I don’t get that part.
    And again step 13 isn’t clear. Sorry, I’m neither a hacker nor a programmer so have merci with me…

  30. RD says:

    Kris,

    for step 12 you simply search for .vmx files in finder. Pick the one whose name is the same as the name of the Virtual Machine you are running.
    Typically Fusion will store these in your Documents folder in the subfolder \Virtual Machines.
    Once you have added those two lines into the .vmx file:
    - Start Fusion
    - Select, but don’t resume the VM you just modified, eg. Windows XP
    - Go to the menu “Virtual Machine”
    - Go to the “Network Adapter” selection further down
    - Open “Network Adapter Settings”
    - Add with the “+” sign a second network adapter.
    - Select “Bridged” mode for the new adapter
    - Make sure you chose “Connect the Network Adapter”

    That should be it.

    RD
    - Select

  31. kris says:

    @RD

    I managed to find the .vmx files myself. But I’m not so sure about picking the right one. I clicked on “Show Package” of the VMWare Program-File. Then in the Resources Folder I found two .vmx files. One called Template.vmx and the other Template-Vista.vmx. I got WinXPCoro installed so I chose the template.vmx file.

    Now with both files changed correctly I still have a problem. I can’t add any other Network Adapters because the “+”Button is greyed out.

    Maybe I’m blind, maybe I “just forgot to connect to the power supply” – can’t get it to work.

    Another thing I noticed is: When the virtual machine is stopped and VMWare is opened: When I go the the Settings of the Virtual Machine and hit the “+”Button in the Overview Section everything is greyed out, except for adding a shared folder.

    Any help is appreciated…

  32. RD says:

    Kris,

    make sure your VM is shut down – not just suspended – when you try to add the additional network adapter. Once the VM is completely shut down the choices should no longer be grayed out.

    Hope that helps,
    RD

  33. kris says:

    this is getting absurd. ok, now it worked. my bad. shut it down, added a 2nd networkadater, set it to “bridged” and “connected”. Still it doesn’t work.

    I think I give up on this. Already spent too much time and this is way to complicated for the average user to handle.

    RD, if you still have the nerve, I take any further advices, but else I just stick to browsing in Mac OS. Only bad thing is, I can’t update any anti-virus and so on.

    So long,
    kris.

  34. Macca says:

    Does the VM actually obtain an IP address from DHCP?
    Can you ping the gateway from the VM?

  35. ER says:

    If you are connected to a VPN, try to disconnect. It worked for me.

  36. kris says:

    @ER: Not using VPN on this machine.

    @Macca: If I use IPConfig in the cmd-tool it shows me an IP-Adress.
    So I guess the first part would be answered with yes.
    Secandly: How do I ping the gateway?

  37. Macca says:

    Hey,

    OK, if you run “IPConfig /all” you’ll see a line that says Default Gateway followed by an IP Address.
    Ping that IP, see if it returns ok.
    Do the same for the primary DNS server also if it’s different.

  38. kris says:

    Hmm,

    If I use IPConfig it shows an IP-Adress, Subnetmask is 255.255.0.0 and the Standard(or default)Gateway is blank.
    If I ping that IP it says 4 sent and 4 returned.

    If I use IPConfig/All it says DHCP activated: yes Auto-Configuration: yes, BUT it doesn’t show an IP-Adress. I get a blank 0.0.0.0. Same goes for the Subnetmask and the Standard-Gateway isn’t shown.
    IP-Routing is off and WINS-Proxy is off.

  39. Macca says:

    OK.
    Do you have two adaptors configured for the VM?
    If so, disable (in Windows) the one that has no ip address assigned to it.
    If you only have one adaptor configured:
    Try changing the Network adaptor in your VM Settings to NAT.
    Run “ipconfig /release” then “ipconfig /renew” and then “ipconfig /all”. See if that brings up a DGW

  40. kris says:

    This is so frustrating: I went to my University and plugged in. Didn’t have to do anything. Internet under OS X worked fine. Checked VMware Fusion, worked fine. Went back home. Same problem as before.

    Okay.

    Now first I used the above steps which gave me a 2nd network adapter. Now I deleted all network-adapters exept one. Run all the ip-commands and everything is there (IP, Subnet, Standard-Gateway and evth else).

    AND: Still I can’t connect to any website or update the anti-virus.

  41. Armand says:

    Hey Guys, I tried this line and it worked, perfectly:

    sudo “/Library/Application Support/VMWare Fusion/boot.sh” –restart

    Got it from another message board – this is the ONLY command out of about 5 google results that worked!

  42. Lena says:

    nothing works

  43. Danyal says:

    If it helps anybody, this fixed all networking for me in VMWare Fusion with Windows 7:

    http://communities.vmware.com/thread/191584

  44. Scott says:

    Thanks for this, it worked first time for me, now I can get the internet to work properly on my VM! Thanks!

  45. [...] After almost switching to Pararllels, I found the solution at Fine Malt Techr. [...]

  46. I was having similar issues with my install of VMWare Fusion – I could connect to my business network on the Mac side, and the network icon appeared in the System Tray in the VMWare Windows side but I could not connect to the network with my Windows XP Pro install. I tried most of the suggestions in this string to no avail. Then, a fellow who works with me suggested I type the following line in a Windows command prompt window: netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt. After I typed that command and pressed the enter key, then restarted Windows XP within VMWare, I was able to connect to the network with no problem. I hope this helps.

  47. Cdub says:

    Thanks to all for this post. I just updated to latest edition of VMWARE 2.0.6 running a virtual Windows 7 RC install and had the same network adapter issue. Running the code in post 5 worked for me, but only after a shut down of Windows and a restart of the Macbook. Thanks so much for the helpful info here.

  48. ammou says:

    Guys, Having the same problem I selected “bridged”. I went into the adapter properties, set a fixed IP address like (192.168.1.117) mask 255.255.255.0 gateway 192.168.1.1 and DNS 192.168.1.1 (these depend on your network and router. Doing so this worked fine but not for NAT! When I run a VPN with my IP set to automatically selected I can connect normally so the problem is with WIN7 (Vista) there is an error in obtaining an IP address from the router using bridged and NAT connections so try to fix (assign yourself) an IP address and hope it works for you! :-)

  49. ammoun says:

    Guys, try setting an IP address in the IPv4 of your local area network using the router info for gateway and DNS. I did that and I am able to work with the “Bridged” network setting just fine. I believe there is something wrong with VMware 3 and Win 7 not obtaining an IP from the router when selecting a “Bridged” network type. Even NAT type was not working until I used the terminal instruction above. I hope someone can make use of this info and let us know how to fix this once and for all. I can’t believe VMware did not test this basic interaction with of their software with Win 7???

  50. Macca says:

    @ammoun

    For clarity, I’m running Win7 in VMWare Fusion 3.0 and have no problems with DHCP allocation either from my DHCP server or from the VMNet process.
    I was also running it upon Fusion 2.x for quite some time without this issue showing up again.

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