VMnet Adapters Won't Enable

[rccall]

Can anyone help me get my VMware adapters to become enabled?

Here's the scenario:

1. I uninstalled VMware and re-installed it (version 6.0.4 build-93057). It is running on a Dell Latitude D630 under XP SP2.

2. I configured VMnet8 (the NAT vmnet) to be on the 192.168.96/24 subnet, and restarted NAT and DNS services in VMware.

3. In the "Host Virtual Adapters" configuration tab, the adapters show as Disabled. If I pick one and change it to Enabled, it briefly shows as Enabled UNTIL I hit Apply, at which point it goes back to being disabled.

Can anyone tell me how to get the adapters to become Enabled?

I am including screen shots of the VMnet configuration, and my vmware.log file. I posted this question under a different subject line, but I think my subject was too vague; so I'm posting again in the hope that this specific problem can be resolved before I move on to other network issues.

Thanks!

Chris

[rccall]

Peter,

I played with the default settings because they didn't work.

In particular, the default settings for the adapter didn't include TCP/IP, which is necessary.

Also, they didn't include the VMware bridge protocol, which (as verified by experimentation) is also necessary.

What I'm really having trouble with is understanding why VMware just doesn't set this stuff up right to begin with. Why should the user have to go mess around with the Windows settings?

[rccall]

Awo,

I think you've hit on a crucial point, which is this:

A clean, new install of VMware (which is what I did) does not activate TCP/IP on the vmnet1/vmnet8 host network adapters; nor does it activate the VMware bridge protocol. As a result,a clean, fresh install of VMware won't work properly.

Why is that?

[Peter_vm]

Peter,

I played with the default settings because they didn't work.

In particular, the default settings for the adapter didn't include TCP/IP, which is necessary.

Also, they didn't include the VMware bridge protocol, which (as verified by experimentation) is also necessary.

What I'm really having trouble with is understanding why VMware just doesn't set this stuff up right to begin with. Why should the user have to go mess around with the Windows settings?

That is NOT my experience, defaults work in all cases that I had contact with (with exception to multiple host physical NICs - Automatic Bridging).

You have a weird setup.

[rccall]

Hi Peter,

What could be weird about my setup that would make a brand-new installation fail to set up the host adapters correctly?

[Peter_vm]

Custom host OS setup, group policies imposed, unusual hardware, odd applications installed... come to my mind.

[rccall]

So is there any way to figure out whether any of those things apply? In other words, is there some reaonsable set of steps to follow to perform diagnosis in order to find out what could be wrong? Or do we just throw up our hands and say that VMware simply doesn't work right for some unknown reason?

[Peter_vm]

I normally perform a plain vanilla host OS setup. If you start at complex setup, troubleshooting gets complex too.

VMware installation produces two log files that could be analysed (MB size though).

[rccall]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by a "plain vanilla host OS setup".

How much more "plain vanilla" can I get than uninstalling the product, and then installing it again, using the "Typical" installation option?

And yet, when I do that, I get the symptom I described above--where the host vmnet adapters are Disabled, and don't have TCP/IP associated with them.

So what else can I do to make my installation a "plain vanilla" one?

[AWo]

A clean, new install of VMware (which is what I did) does not activate TCP/IP on the vmnet1/vmnet8 host network adapters; nor does it activate the VMware bridge protocol. As a result,a clean, fresh install of VMware won't work properly.

O.K. I can't comment on this, because I do not sit in front of your PC. I never had such an issue in all the installations I perfomed. You can be sure, that is NOT the usual behavior, that is NOT the standard. Something must be different in your case, whatever it is (system, setup, rights, GPO's, sunspot's, I don't know...)

But that's one thing why this formu exists: to help if something doesn't go as expected/designed.

[Peter_vm]

So you reinstalled host OS taking defaults and therefore wiping out all customizations and all applications?

[rccall]

Of course not. There's no way I can rebuild my entire system from scratch, just to see whether it will make VMware behave better.

[Peter_vm]

So you would need to figure out what broke there. If you are still interested.

[rccall]

What broke where?

Are you suggesting that something broke when I installed Windows XP (which, by the way, I personally didn't do)?

Can you suggest any debugging steps?

I'm going to start a new thread for this...

[Peter_vm]

Post vmware installation logs.

[AWo]

I'll try to explain what the normal/default setup is. You may check this with your installation:

After installing VMware Workstation you have three networks, assumed you have one physical NIC:

1. VMnet0

This is the bridged network where the vNIC is connected to via the VMware Bridge protocol (thereby this and TCP/IP must be enabled on the physical NIC). By using this network the guest behaves just like any other host on this physical network. The guest needs an IP setup like any other host, either by using DHCP or by setting it manual.

By default VMWare chooses one physical adapter where VMnet0 is bridged to. If this adapter fails VMWare can use a different one, automatically. You can change this and choose a fixed adapter on your own.

2. VMnet1

This is the "host-only" network. This virtual NIC is added to your host and it is setup with an automatically choosen IP network address where VMware has checked that this is not already used (as far as the host can see it) somewhere else. By adding a VMnet1 vNIC to the guest you have an exclusive, isolated network between guest(s) and host. Thereby TCP/IP must be enabled there, too.

3. VMnet8

This is the NAT network. This is the second virtual adapter added to the host. It is a virtual network like the VMnet1 with its own different IP address range, also choosen to be unique. By using this network you can use any adapter where TCP/IP is used (and enabled). The host will act as an proxy for the guest, thereby the guest appears as the host on the physical network.

The DHCP service serves VMnet1 and VMnet8 so that they can be used in a plug-andplay manner. The NAT service is needed for VMnet8.

If the installation went well, you'll find such an network setup on the host. That is the standard.

[continuum]

rccall - you have a I394 network adapter listed in one of the screenshots - do you need that one ? If not - get rid of it - either configure and load any other firewire device so that the firewire port is no longer listed as a nic - or disable it in devicemanager.

Then uninstall VMware - reboot - reinstall it.

Also do you have a NVIDIA chipset with nforce onboard-nics ?

___________________________________

description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:

[rccall]

Peter,

Please tell me where to find the installation logs, and I will post them in a new thread I started for this issue, beginning with a totally clean installation.

Thanks,

Chris

[rccall]

AWo,

That is indeed the setup that I find in VMware after having done a clean uninstallation (including manual uninstallation) and re-install.

Unfortunately, the host adapters still are not installed correctly: They don't have TCP/IP nor VMware bridge protocol enabled; and thus I can't enable them in the VMware configuration setting.

I've been working on the theory that maybe something pertaining to my old installation was creating this issue; but now that I've done an entirely clean uninstall and re-install, I don't see how that could be the case. But I've started a new thread to deal with this issue, beginning with my clean install.

[Peter_vm]

Replied in new thread.

[rccall]

Continuum,

I suppose I could try disabling the I1394 adapter. Can you give me any idea why having such an adapter would mess things up?

The onboard NIC is a Broadcomm 57xx. There's an nVidia chipset for the video, but I don't think that's what you were getting at...