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Hyper-V Networking Private Network not working

I have 4 VMs each with an external network and an internal network. They are all XP. I set a file share on one of them. Accessing it from another VM on that host using the IP address \\192.168.1.200\myfileshare works but trying \\Virtualmachine1\myfileshare gives the error "You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network. Go to system in control panel and change the computer name and try again". Dns is showing 'Virtualmachine1' using it's external network address. I tried adding an entry in the second VM's hosts file to use the 192.168.1.200 address but it doesn't seem to help although ping now uses the correct internal network address. What's the proper approach here?

Rob Williams

Why are you using an external and an internal network adepter on all XP VM's? You really only need the one. Create an external network connection on the host and name it, then add the network adapter with the same name to each of the child machines. They should then resolve DNS names properly, have access to each other, and have Internet access.

wessir

ASKER

The thought was I could store sensitive files on a virtual machine that only other virtual machines could see. It's my understanding that an 'internal virtual network' can only be seen by other vms on the same physical machine. AD and NTFS can do the security job but I was experimenting with Hyper-V possibilities.

Rob Williams

That is true of internal, but then why add the external. Not trying to be difficult, I'm just trying to better understand the goal.

wessir

ASKER

The external interface is for RDP. I'm using the VMs as workstations for data programming staff and they work with the sensitive data. They control several vms concurrently to do the work. If the vms only had internal virtual networks, how could you use them?

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Rob Williams

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wessir

ASKER

I agree, the external virtual network on the file sharing vm does defeat the security. The only way to use this configuration would be to access the files using IP address of the share on the 'hidden' machine on the internal virtual network. DNS would not function unless the DNS service was running on the host in addition to the network. Sounds like a question for another forum using multiple DNS service providers, thanks for your help.

Rob Williams

If not running a DNS server the Hosts or LMHosts files should work. They are very fussy to use, with odd requirements like no carriage return (enter) at the end of a data line resulting in the entry being ignored. I wrote a blog article on these files that you might want to review. The disadvantage of the Hosts/LMHosts files is they need to be maintained on all machines from which a connection will me made.
http://msmvps.com/blogs/robwill/archive/2008/05/10/lmhosts-and-hosts-files.aspx

Rob Williams

Thanks wessir.
Cheers!
--Rob