Network Adapter will not install properly

Check Virtual machines configuration of network adapter as to which type you have it set i.e. e1000, flexible, vmxnet, ... Did you change anything on this machine? Is this a new installation or an old one that stopped working or was is maybe migrated/copied from another host?
Also check if you have the latest VMWare tools installed.

If nothing else helps try removing network adapters from virtual machines setup and add a new one with a different type selected.

1. Uninstaller cm tools
2. Uninstaller all adapters
3. Tried installing both types...none worked
4. Nothing changed on the vm...the vm just stopped working after a reboot

Seems something went wrong in the virtual machine itself, maybe check for any viruses and also run "sfc /scannow" to check if any system files are corrupted and have them repaired.

running sfc now...looks like its going to be a while. Will run virus scan after that is completed. Any other ideas while we wait for this to run?

sfc - no integrity violations found.

I dont think this is an issue with this particular VM. I just created a new VM as a Win2008R2 server and only used the E1000 device and it has the same error - network cable is unplugged.

I think the problem is the VM host.

Can you check in the VM configuration that you have "Connected" and "Connect at startup" checked.

EDIT: This is under "Network adapter" and at the top "Device status"

yes both are checked - connected & connect at startup

Are you using standard port group configuration or Distributed switch?

Usually only when the network adapter is not connected guest VM will report "cable unplugged" in other cases it will just not be directing traffic correctly.

standard port group configuration

Can you check how many VMs you have configured and with that how many network adapters. After that check the vSwitch configuration port configuration that you have enough ports available.

If you have more network adapters configured that ports available for the selected vSwitch you need to either try disabling/powering off some other VM to see it this helps or increase allocated ports in this case you have to reboot ESX host for the configuration to take effect.

Also make sure that the network adapter has an existing vSwitch selected.

17 VM configured
1 network adapter on each VM
1 network adapter on the host
120 ports available on the vSwitch

Does the issue happen if you vmotion the VM to another host?

What type of upstream switch are you using? Is port fast / spanning -tree enabled?

Glad that at least VMWare got it working as this one was really a doozie of a problem. Sorry I were unable to help.

the problem was never resolved and i have no more time to spend on it. I ended up purchasing an incident from vMware and they solved the problem.

the issue was that i was on ESXi 5.0 and it has a memory leak so i needed to upgrade to a new version and then reboot the host.