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Rob RudloffFlag for United States of America

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vmware guest can't ping host, can ping all other network devices

Hi.  
I have VMWare Workstation 10 host running on a Windows 8 PC.  I have a guest VM running XP.    This is a new installation of VMWare Workstation, and a newly created VM.

The host can ping every device on the the network/domain except the VM.  The VM can ping every device except the host.  

Networking for the VM is set to "bridged".   Firewalls and AV are off on both.

Any ideas why I can't ping the host from the VM ?
Thanks
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Avatar of Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)
Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)
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if you change to Host only can you ping the host ?

are the VM and Host on the same network, do they receive IP Address via DHCP or Static ?
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if you change to Host only can you ping the host ?
I'm not sure I get what you're asking ...
are the VM and Host on the same network, do they receive IP Address via DHCP or Static ?
Static IP's on both Host and VM, both on same network.  This network is not DHCP.
Also, this VM is on the actual PC where Workstation is installed & running.
Change the VM Networking to Host Only.

and then try and ping the host.

Have you checked the IP Addresses are different, correct Subnet Mask?
"Host Only" doesn't seem to fix pinging the host.  (In that scenario, the guest VM can't ping the host, or anything on the network.)

IP addresses are different, and the subnet seems correct -- When set to "Bridged, both Host and VM can ping every device on the network, except each other (being on the same machine).  
Other devices on the network can ping both the Host and the running VM.  
Both Host and VM have access to files on the domain file server.
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Also, on your Bridged Setting, try unchecking Replace network state.  I have that unchecked when I use Bridged Connections and do not have an issue.

Also, in addition to your tests with Host Only, try setting to NAT to see if NAT works. I use NAT on my Windows 8 laptop and ping back forth works.
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UPDATE:  I contacted VMWare Support, and they spent about 3 hours connected to the PC.   In that time, they uninstalled Workstation, scrubbed it out of the Registry with a 3rd-party tool, and reinstalled.  This had no net effect.
They monkeyed with the network settings for the VM and changed some settings for the VMWare Virtual Networks (I missed seeing what they changed, but the results are in the 3 screen captures attached.)

They were blaming something on the wireless network vs. the wired ethernet network settings -- I'd be surprised if that was really the case, having had lots of exposure to "XP Mode" in Windows 7, where I have always just enabled "Bridged Mode" and everything works, no matter what adapter or network I am on.

To answer some of your questions:

Originally I was at my office on a wired network with a domain.  Both Host and Guest VM exist in the domain, and can ping other devices on the network, but can't ping each other.   Pings timed out.
Currently, I am at home, using DHCP, with the same results -- I can ping and use other devices on the network, and ping google.com from both Host and Guest VM.   However, Host and VM can't ping each other (time out).  Here you can see me pinging the router and a printer, but no sign of the host pings at 192.168.1.5

C:\Documents and Settings\robrud>arp -a
Interface: 192.168.1.7 --- 0x2
  Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
  192.168.1.1           00-7f-28-2a-23-39     dynamic
  192.168.1.99          f4-81-39-30-b9-4f     dynamic

Any other suggestions?
If this is a WIRELESS CARD, as I questioned, there are KNOWN issues with WIRELESS DRIVERS that do not bridge correctly.

So are you using a wireless connection or wired ?

and if VMware Support cannot get it working, and they've remote access.........
At this point, temporarily install VMware Workstation on another machine, copy a problem machine over to the temporary machine and try Bridged Networking.

If that works, then the host machine operating system may have been corrupted somehow. Did you do a TCP/IP Reset and Restart of the Host machine?
Currently this is a wired Ethernet connection.   Both at home and at the office.  I tried wireless at home, just to see if there was a difference.

I will install Workstation 10 on another machine, and copy the VM there, just to see if it works there.  I'll post results here soon.
OK -- I copied the VM to another PC running Workstation 10, on another network.  
Same results:  The VM and Host can ping everything on the network, except each other.
I set the Network to Bridged, and tried both "replicate state" on and off.
I also did a trick that the VM Support guy did, and removed/added the virtual network adapter for the VM.  It installs a fresh "VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter".

UPDATE:  VMWare support tried adding a second network adapter to the VM, and set it to the "Host Only" network.  That worked, in that I could ping the Host at it's new "Host Only" network address (192.168.40.xxx).  However, that is not a prefect solution, as certain software we use really want to see the host on the corporate network (10.9.8.xxx).  
The support guy seemed perplexed, and is still looking for a solution -- he feels Bridged should work as it does in Win 7's "XP Mode".

Anything else I could try?  
(We have about a hundred of PC's like this, and it would be really handy if we could get it working, and good for VMware, I'd say.)
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Yes, I plan on trying a brand new VM from scratch on that other PC.
I will look for new NIC drivers now ...
I'll post my results.
Thanks.
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I installed Workstation on my PC at home (completely different hardware, standard Verizon Fios DHCP router), created a new Windows XP VM from scratch.  I get the same results

That sounds completely unreasonable. I have been using VMware Workstation since V1 on all kinds of computers and connecting / pinging between host and guest in bridged mode has never ever failed.

I wonder if you have a corrupt copy of VMware Workstation. You can download again, make a note of the MD5 checksum and then use DigestIT 2004 or other tool to verify the checksum.
John --
Actually, I used different downloads at home and at my office.  Also, the version at the office was one or two "sub-releases" older when I discovered it was not working -- VMware support uninstalled the old version, uninstalled any remnants of Workstation and Player left behind, then reinstalled the later version ... same results.

What version # are you using?
Hello Rob,

I am using Version 10.0.3 Build 1895310 currently but I have used all versions and sub-versions along the way. I know this current version works properly for bridged mode connections as well as NAT connections. I use both.
It looks like VMWare Support has thrown in the towel :

Hello Rob,

Thank you  so much for the update.

Hope you have tried pinging the host from a different computer on the network. We would like to thank you for bringing the issue in to our notice, we will reproduce the issue internally and if we are able to reproduce the issue, we will engage our internal team on the same.

Since we are temporarily able to workaround the issue by adding a secondary NIC and the networking type as Host Only. Can we go-ahead and archive the support request?

I look forward to hear from you.
It looks like VMWare Support has thrown in the towel : if we are able to reproduce the issue, we will engage our internal team on the same.

I have never seen this issue (15 years of use) so it would not surprise me if they cannot reproduce this.
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Problem was VPN software that was installed on both of my test PC's.  Problem was not VMware, but the adapter/protocol that is added to all the existing NIC cards / network connections upon installation of the "Barracuda NAC 3.5" VPN software.
Avatar of Jitendra Gandhi
Jitendra Gandhi

Thanks RobRud
I have uncheck npcap for network property and my problem solved