Bridged networking with Virtual machines problem

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Djago
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 6:08 pm

Bridged networking with Virtual machines problem

Post by Djago »

Hi!

I'm having problems with VirtualBox and VMWare Workstation using Bridged networking. Guest machines can go as far as the router IP, but not further. I can configure the Gargoyle router in the virtual machine and not browse the web nor use any internet related program.
I don't have any special configuration, routes, firewall rules... it's a recently installed 1.10 and the only thing that I've touched is DHCP to assign fixed IPs and setting up a WDS (that currently doesn't work for me, as I explained in another post).

Any clues?

Lantis
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Posts: 6735
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:33 am
Location: Australia

Re: Bridged networking with Virtual machines problem

Post by Lantis »

Doesn’t make much sense.
I’ve got half a dozen virtual machines all working fine.

Are you sure your VM setup isn’t to blame?
http://lantisproject.com/downloads/gargoyle_ispyisail.php for the latest releases
Please be respectful when posting. I do this in my free time on a volunteer basis.

Djago
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 6:08 pm

Re: Bridged networking with Virtual machines problem

Post by Djago »

It's a clean machine! I've installed a clean XP to retest in both VMWare and VBox (Vbox was installed on my PC, but following suggestions, did a clean uninstall-install; vmware wasn't on my system, so I did a clean install)

It all started with an old VBox version using a WinXP host, but because I was using the VMs in a conventional way (for example to do some TeamViewer work), didn't actually need Bridged mode, so I turn to NAT to solve the problem.

But recently I need to do some research on MikroTik CHR and need badly Bridged mode to use Winbox, so I installed CHR on VBox, set up 2 NIC and... well, there were some other problems, like sometimes I started the VM and the virtual NIC 1 and 2 were swapped, I can't ping outside, DHCP sometimes assigns IP to the NIC, sometimes not... I've looked at the forum and there were reports on strange behaviors regarding Bridged networking (supposedly related to late Windows 10's build) so I thought to give VMWare a try because all problems seemed to be VBox problems.

And that was the most strange thing: VMWare has problems too. VMWare's Bridged mode can't even get an IP from the router!

I don't know what to think...
  • VMWare can't get an IP from Gargoyle's DHCP
  • VMWare can't netowrk (browse, ping,...) even with fixed IP
  • VBox sometimes gets IP and I can log in the router and it resolves DNS with the browser, but can't reach anywhere (ping, browser,...).
  • VBox sometimes doesn't get an IP but can work to get to the router with fixed IP in that case (but doesn't work any further than the router's IP)
  • Both VMWare and VBox works OK in NAT mode

Lantis
Moderator
Posts: 6735
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:33 am
Location: Australia

Re: Bridged networking with Virtual machines problem

Post by Lantis »

I just spun up a brand new Win 10 VM in VMWare to test for you.
It works as expected.
Here you can see both the host machine and the VM both getting different IP addresses from Gargoyle. It's a bit hard to show that the internet works in a still image, but i assure you it does.
Image

Unless you can provide some other kind of diagnostic information, i don't believe the fault is with Gargoyle.
Are you able to try it with another network?
http://lantisproject.com/downloads/gargoyle_ispyisail.php for the latest releases
Please be respectful when posting. I do this in my free time on a volunteer basis.

Djago
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 6:08 pm

Re: Bridged networking with Virtual machines problem

Post by Djago »

I've got a RB951Ui-2HnD!
I've replaced my Gargoyle with the MikroTik router (in order to test same PC, same VM, same host config):
  • VMWare, still is unable to get an IP with Bridged mode
  • VMWare, still is unable to work at all with a fixed IP
  • VirtualBox works like a charm!
Seems that:
a) VMWare is having lots of troubles with Bridged on my PC
b) VBox is having problems with my Gargoyle :?:

To do my other testings (I mean, what I was researching originally) I've put the MikroTik connected to my Gargoyle (I mean that Gargoyle is my MAIN router and the MikroTik's input is connected to one of the ethernet ports of the Gargoyle). I've tested again VBox in this cascade setup, and it still works ok! BUT, if I play here and there changing and trying different configs, sometimes the VM won't connect unless I suspend the machine, close VBox and start the program again... :?: :?: :?:

I've posted the same question on VBox forum and somebody has replied to me:
If the guest gets an IP from your router and can connect to the router it is hard to see how the problem has anything much to do with VirtualBox. All that the VirtualBox NDIS6 Bridged Networking Adapter does is allow the virtual machine to share the host's physical NIC. In essence it is simply a filter driver which, working with the device driver in the host OS, forwards packets addressed to the host to its IP stack and redirects packets addressed to the guest to its IP stack. That must be working (up to a point) for it to get an IP and see the router.

If we rule out the router (which I think we can if the host works properly) that only leaves the Windows 10 device driver for the TP-Link. I have seen cases in the past where a particular device driver does not work well with the VirtualBox filter driver. Sometimes it affects the guest, sometimes the guest is fine but it blocks the host traffic!

As you have probably noticed in this forum the situation is even worse with wireless NIC drivers. The success rate is worryingly low. All I can suggest is trying a different NIC driver (if available) or trying a different NIC, perhaps a USB NIC (so that you don't need to open the case).

All I can tell you for certain is that bridged networking works fine on all my machines (Realtek, Broadcom and even my Qualcomm Atheros Wi-Fi) with VirtualBox 5.2.4 on Windows 10 build 16299.192 .
But if this is the case, it doesn't explains why changing the router solves the problem...

Lantis
Moderator
Posts: 6735
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:33 am
Location: Australia

Re: Bridged networking with Virtual machines problem

Post by Lantis »

When you experience a problem, does setting a static IP for the VM fix it?
http://lantisproject.com/downloads/gargoyle_ispyisail.php for the latest releases
Please be respectful when posting. I do this in my free time on a volunteer basis.

Djago
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 6:08 pm

Re: Bridged networking with Virtual machines problem

Post by Djago »

Lantis wrote:When you experience a problem, does setting a static IP for the VM fix it?
It has solved the problem when the DHCP didn't assign an IP, but doesn't solve the problem generally...

Lantis
Moderator
Posts: 6735
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:33 am
Location: Australia

Re: Bridged networking with Virtual machines problem

Post by Lantis »

Something is not forwarding DHCP packets to your VM consistently.
I honestly don’t think this is an issue with Gargoyle.

I don’t think we can provide you any answers
http://lantisproject.com/downloads/gargoyle_ispyisail.php for the latest releases
Please be respectful when posting. I do this in my free time on a volunteer basis.

Djago
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 6:08 pm

Re: Bridged networking with Virtual machines problem

Post by Djago »

The DHCP is, I think, something minor. What bothers me is that in the VM I can log in the router but not go outside. And when I replaced the Gargoyle with the Mikrotik the VM worked ok...

Djago
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 6:08 pm

Re: Bridged networking with Virtual machines problem

Post by Djago »

Now it's not working even on NAT mode!
I can access to the configuration, but can't browse...
I'm going to completely reset the router tonight in order to see if I can make it work again.

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