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Configuring Ethernet Adapters

In this panel, you can specify networking adapters for the virtual machine, or you can disable networking entirely.

To enable networking:

  1. Open the Configuration Editor.
  2. Click the expansion button next to Ethernet Adapters.
  3. Click Not Installed.
  4. Click Install.
  5. Choose Bridged, Host-only, or Custom. (See below for an explanation.)
  6. Click OK or Save to exit the Configuration Editor, or continue to add or modify another feature.

Bridged networking means a virtual machine appears just like any other computer on the local Ethernet network. You need to configure operating system support for the virtual network adapter and then either assign a fixed network address or enable use of dynamic address assignment (DHCP) . Consult your network administrator to obtain a network address.
If the host machine is set up to boot multiple operating systems and you run one or more of them simultaneously in virtual machines, you must configure each operating system with a unique network address.

Host-only networking means a virtual machine can communicate with the host operating system and other virtual machines which also use host-only networking. It cannot communicate with any systems off the host machine without the use of a proxy server. If host-only networking is enabled at the time VMware is installed, a virtual Ethernet network adapter is added on the host. The IP address for this adapter, and hence the network number to use for the virtual network, is automatically selected as an unused private IP network number. The command

     /sbin/ifconfig vmnet1
shows which IP addresses are used for the private network.

Custom networking allows the virtual machine to configure a network adapter in a user-specified way.

For more information on networking a virtual machine see our web site.