VMware stuck on "Waiting for connection" in local guest boot when i connect to a PPTP VPN server?!

[mid0x]

I have very very strange VMware problem, whenever i am connected to a PPTP VPN server in my ubuntu, i can't boot up any VM!!

some notes : 

1. VMware version : 16.1.0 

2. Ubuntu 20.04

3. I have disabled the updates in VMware, so there should be no connection between VMware and other servers whatsoever 

4. This is a local VM guest, i am not doing anything in local/non-local network. everything is local. 

5. When i disable the network interface, this get fixed. so i assume VMware checks if there is any network connection, then tries to do whatever it is trying to do in guest boot up, and when i use a PPTP server it messes up the mysterious stuff that its doing.

so why on earth is this happening? this is really suspicious, is VMware trying to connect to somewhere when i boot up a VM guest? my PPTP connection is fine but i guess VMware is having issues, but the bigger question is WHY VMWARE is doing anything network related when i boot up a VM guest when auto update IS OFF?

How can i completely disable any update related connection for VMware? i already disabled it in the options but i guess for some reason VMware doesn't take the hint that i don't want any updates.. and if this is not update related, what is VMware trying to do?

[RaSystemlord]

Not sure what happens, but I think it is more like your VPN is messing up VMware networking.

In VMware, when installing it, it will create two networks, Host-only networking and NAT-networking. When you boot your VM, it needs to access those networks or the other one (depending on the VM setup, which can be changed at any time).

You could try to disable those networks and see what happens in boot-up (if you disable inside VM, make a backup first, just to make sure)? Does it solve the problem or does it prevent from booting up even without VPN?

[mid0x]

Even when i remove the network interface from guest, it still gets stucked on the guest booting up screen, for around 4-5 minute. pretty sure its trying to connect to a remote server for some unknown reason, which seems very suspicious. why is VMware trying to connect to a remote server when i try to boot up a guest without network interface? EVEN when i disabled updates?

how can i disable updates completely in VMware? 

[RaSystemlord]

It doesn't look like VMware is trying to connect to a remote server, but your VM is. However, you have in VMware config possibility to influence how VMware Tools are updated or notified: VM Config - Options - VMware Tools. As for VMware software update or upgrade - I don't know where it is, but first time after installation, you get a pop-up and there you select what you want to see in the future. Neither of these should block the use of your computer, whatever the settings are.

I gather, your Host is Ubuntu 20.04. What is your VM? In VM itself, you can have all sorts of things, depending on what it is and what has been installed (automatic updates, firewalling, antivirus software, disk shares (which by the way, will definitely slow down Windows 10 boot time for minutes when they cannot be accessed)).

[mid0x]

This is not a problem with guests, because i have 7+ guests, from various operating systems (linux, windows) and all of them have the same problem. even the VMware itself doesn't open unless you wait 4-5 minutes when i am connected to the PPTP server.

and note that I am not using any magic software to connect to PPTP server, i am basically using ubuntu's network setting to connect to the PPTP server. so this is definitely caused by VMware itself.

and i still didn't get how can i completely turn off any update attempt by VMware? why is VMware doing anything network related when update is off in the preferences? 

[RaSystemlord]

OK. I don't have any background information on VMware - I hope that some VMware guy answers you.

However, preference is for VMware Tools, only - not for VMware software as such.

Lots of commercial software is checking during the open, if your software is up to date or not. I think this comes from Windows-concepts, because there is no central "Update" in Windows for all its software - you need to search for them all over the Web (or delivery nodes). Typically, native Linux software does not do any such thing, but it will display your "Update Software Screen" for all software, at some point during your session not dependent on individual software use, which Screen you can control for all software. Now that VMware is not installed from Ubuntu software delivery, it has adopted the (irritating) Windows ways.

As stated before, when you first launch VMware, it will ask you if you want to Download a new version or do it later or skip it. If you got that, what did you answer? If you said "later", it will haunt you forever. Obviously, reinstall of VMware might help to reset this.

If you wonder about the term "commercial" above - VMware Player is commercial software and not free software if you use it in a company. Technically, it seems to be the same, with license key or not.