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VmWare Workstation, Guest DNS Problem

Hi there,

I have a problem that's beginning to drive me mad! I have the latest version of VMWare Workstation running on a Windows 7 x64 Ultimate host computer. I normally use VPC as it makes life easier connecting the VMs to the internet, but as I need to set up SharePoint 2010 on a VM which only runs in a 64 bit environment I am using VMWare.

Now the problem is this: I have installed Windows 2008 x64 as a guest OS, it is using Bridged networking and I can ping any IP address on the internet from the guest OS without problem. DNS however, will not work whatever I try.- I have even configured the IP config of the guest to use a public DNS server (which works fine from the host to 4.2.2.2, but NSLOOKUP from the guest fails - I have attached a screenshot of this) This applies to any guest OS I have installed. I have attached images in the hope that someone can help out with this.

My network environemt is an ethernet cable from my network card plugged directly into the router so I am not using a wireless connection. I have also tried NAT but this does not work either, but I really need to use the bridged networking so that the VM is an additional node on the network. Like I say I never have a problem with either VPC or Virtual server doing the same thing. All screenshots are from a Windows XP standalone guest machine running on VMWare.

I would be very grateful for any help with this.
ipconfigall.PNG
nslookup.PNG
pingpubdns.PNG
vmsettings.PNG
vnesettings.PNG
pingipnotdns.PNG

ryder0707

Assuming the host can reach Internet, can you paste the ipconfig /all here

GunnerN

ASKER

Hi,

There is no problems with the host IP config - Internet/DNS is working fine. The output from the Host IP Config is as follows:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Desktop
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : home

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : home
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.20)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-22-15-99-62-7E
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::742e:1513:220d:8284%2(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.3(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 16 January 2010 11:04:04
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 17 January 2010 11:04:04
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 134226453
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-11-97-D6-14-00-22-15-99-62-7E
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter VMware Network Adapter VMnet1:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter for VMnet1
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-50-56-C0-00-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::f07a:2a95:af42:c3f6%20(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.222.1(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 620777558
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-11-97-D6-14-00-22-15-99-62-7E
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 4.2.2.2
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter VMware Network Adapter VMnet8:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter for VMnet8
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-50-56-C0-00-08
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::7c18:a521:6500:a26f%21(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.81.1(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 637554774
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-11-97-D6-14-00-22-15-99-62-7E
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.home:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : home
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{C556A132-30E9-4003-B425-11AD334D49F4}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{AA736EA1-A83A-43E1-8EB2-123014F01EA8}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #3
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

ryder0707

Assuming you already set to bridge what is the result of "nslookup www.microsoft.com" if the VM dns server is set to 8.8.8.8
Try "telnet 8.8.8.8 53" are you able to connect?

GunnerN

ASKER

Hi,

Yes, I am running in Bridged mode. The result of the nslookup www.microsoft.com is as follows:

C:\Users\Administrator>nslookup www.microsoft.com
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
Server: UnKnown
Address: 8.8.8.8

DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Request to UnKnown timed-out

C:\Users\Administrator>

A telnet connection to 8.8.8.8 on port 53 works fine

I have also used Network monitor to capture the traffic from the Guest OS - I've attached a screenshot with the relevant lines highlighted but it seems as though the connection goes out to 8.8.8.8 on port 53 but it does not come back in when the DNS query is made. But when using telnet the connection goes out and comes back in. Now I'm presuming that the client side port from the server is somehow getting "lost" by VMWare so the DNS queries go out fine but something is occuring with being received back.

Using the 8.8.8.8 DNS server on the host machine works absolutely fine and returns the correct A records for www.microsoft.com.

This is very puzzling. Incidently the firewall is turned off completely on the Guest OS so that is not the reason for traffic being blocked.

Thanks
netmon.PNG

ryder0707

Yeah this is strange
hmmm...try to uncheck "vmware bridge protocol" in the adapter settings
disable the NIC, reeanable the NIC, check "vmware bridge protocol" and try again
if that doesn't work I'd try complete uninstall & reinstall of vmware workstation

GunnerN

ASKER

Hi,

Okay I've tried both of those options, I have completely removed and then reinstalled VMware workstation and I am getting exactly the same problem. Still can ping anywhere but cannot resolve DNS names. Could this be a Windows 7 issue - I've looked around but the only articles I can find are people who have had problems getting NAT to work on a wireless network, but none that apply to using bridged networking - which should just work. I'm sure this worked fine on previous OS's I've used.

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ryder0707

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GunnerN

ASKER

Hi ryder,

The fact you have it working on yours was enough for me thank you. Closer investigation of my host network adapter revealed that there were 2 filters installed on it - one for virtual pc and another for Shrewsoft (which I use to connect to my work VPN). Disabling the Shrewsoft filter magically enabled DNS to work on the guest machine.

Thank you for your help with this and I will happily award you the points for your responses.

ryder0707

Glad to assist thanks!

pedja75

Do you have some sort of VPN client installed? Look at services and check if there is some service named "dns proxy" or sometthing like that. Disable it and check if dns resolving in guest OS works.

elanders1

Thanks for this, Shrewsoft was the issue here as well...

cbrsystems

Thanks GunnerN/Ryder!!!! This problem has been driving me nuts for quite some time. The Shrewsoft filter was the culprit and disabling it on my Ethernet connection fixed my situation. What made the issue a little different for me is that the Shrewsoft filter was enabled for both my Wireless and Ethernet connections. When I connected via Wireless, everything worked normally (Internet, DNS, etc...). When I connected via LAN exclusively via Ethernet, I could only get an IP from my DHCP server and ping my DNS servers. Nothing else worked. It's a little strange why even with the Shrewsoft filter enabled for my wireless connection, my VM worked. This issue affected ALL my attempts at running virtualization software on my Windows 7 machine; it stopped Vitualbox, VM Server (2.0), and VM Player. Thanks again.