[hulkinator]

I'm running VMWare 7 on a Windows 7 64-bit host and trying to get an XP Pro SP3 VM to connect to my network. I have no success with either Bridged or NAT.

-VMWare NAT Service is running on the host
-Assigning a static IP to the VM from my router does not help
-Disabling Windows Firewall on the host and guest does not help
-VMWare Bridging is enabled on my host's Ethernet adapter
-Antivirus monitoring is disabled on the XP guest

This all worked just fine when I used Vista x64 and VMWare 6.5. By the way, I have created a brand new VM with the W7/VMW7 combination and it acts just the same way.

My Windows 98 VM works with NAT.

Been at this for hours on end and no threads I've read have helped. Perhaps there is a registry mod I need to do? I read one user that fixed his problem using CCleaner's registry cleaner, but there's no way I'm running a reg cleaner. I've read enough on this forum to know better

Thanks in advance for the help

[aasimenator]

Add a new Hardware> Select Network Adapters> Select Microsoft (left pane)> Select Microsoft Loopback Adapter (right pane)
Once installed assign IP to that open VMware & change the Network adapter setting to select Microsoft Loopback adapter. & you'll be able to communicate between host & VM. if you want VM-VM select Local/internal Only.

[hulkinator]

I was able to install the MS Loopback Adapter. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "assign IP to that"; I gave it the static IP (through the driver information interface) that I have the VM guest using. I then went into the VMWare network editor and changed the vmnet0 connection to the Loopback adapter. I still have no connectivity.

[aasimenator]

Can you ping between the two? Also you'd have to change the preference of networks in Windows 7.

Go To Network Sharing & Connection Center click on Change Adapter Settings from the left pane.
From the File menu click on Advanced (if you don't see file menu press Alt) then click on Advanced Settings
Now under Adapters & Bindings Your Microsoft Loopback Adapter has to be 1st in line then any other network cards, to do so select Microsoft Loopbacb adapter & click on the green Up arrow on the right side to place it on top of the list.

Also If you don't you IPv6 uncheck it.

This should solve the issue, Sorry I forget to mention this before, I had the same problem connecting my W7 host to Virtual Server's.

[hulkinator]

I cannot ping between the two- the computers can't see each other.

The Loopback Adapter (labeled Local Area Connection 2) is already on the top of the list.

I also have VirtualBox installed. Could this be conflicting?

It seems that this is a really common problem. I'm disappointed to see that VMWare didn't do much to check out the W7 host/XP combination, which I'd think would be one of the more popular options!

[JohnWill]

I have VMWARE 7 running here, and I have Ubuntu installed, it works fine using the bridged NIC setting. I had a XP VM, but I've since moved to the XP-Mode one and removed that VM.

[hulkinator]

My Xubuntu VM works flawlessly using bridged as well (I switched the vmnet0 back to using my network card and not the Loopback Adapter). Unfortunately I have no other [usable] VMs to test with at this time.

Would love to use XP Mode but I didn't have the foresight when I bought my laptop a year ago to make sure I got a processor with hardware virtualization (C2D T6400).

I may give VirtualBox a try, or perhaps I can take this as a hint to learn some Linux or BSD. It is a necessary step on the way to computer god-dom indeed!

[JohnWill]

You might consider Virtual PC 2007, you can load that on your machine without hardware virtualization.

[aasimenator]

Did you disable IPv6 like I said? I don't think it should conflict, but try disabling all the network adapters & then check if you can connect the two.


You cannot install Virtual PC for Windows 7. Windows 7 has its own Virtualization software called Windows Virtual PC.

[hulkinator]

I did disable IPv6. Sorry that I didn't note that.

Which would you suggest between Virtual PC and VirtualBox should I go to that point? Or even Qemu?

[aasimenator]

Since your host machine is windows 7 you can try Windows Virtual PC, Virtual Box is ok if you require a guest with 64 bit capabilities.

Never heard of Qemu

[JohnWill]

Originally Posted by aasimenator

Did you disable IPv6 like I said? I don't think it should conflict, but try disabling all the network adapters & then check if you can connect the two.


You cannot install Virtual PC for Windows 7. Windows 7 has its own Virtualization software called Windows Virtual PC.

WRONG! If you don't have hardware virtualization, you can't use Windows Virtual PC, but you can still use Virtual PC 2007. You obviously can't have them both installed.

[aasimenator]

^^^ issues that you should be aware of if you want to do this:

1. To reiterate, this is not officially supported. Microsoft has not tested / qualified to combination, and has not made any commitment to ever do so. So “buyer be warned”.
2. A number of people have reported that when they try to install Virtual PC 2007 they receive a compatibility warning like this:

You'd have to uninstall Windows Virtual PC if you want to use Virtual PC 2007.

[JohnWill]

See my previous post. I've personally installed Virtual PC 2007 on a WIndows 7 Ultimate machine that doesn't have hardware virtualization, and it works fine. I believe the "trick" is to run the install in Vista compatibility mode.

[hulkinator]

Thanks for the tip on VPC installation, JohnWill. As it is I've got Bridged networking functioning properly with VirtualBox, so I'll stick with that. I might give Virtual PC a go just for kicks and to see how it compares. Most reviews I've read place VirtualBox ahead for speed, but the only review that really matters is my own

aasimenator- don't worry about non-official support in this case- I never call MS and I find I rarely stumble on their help or forums when I have problems- it tends to be elsewhere that I go with troubles. Non-supported software is fun sometimes- I installed Office 95 on my Windows 7 box (alongside Office 2003) just for kicks. It worked. Guessing that isn't supported either

Marking thread solved, though my original issue wasn't fixed I'm still doing what I wanted to. Thanks again!