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[Animis]

Hi there groovemaster,

I've been having some trouble connecting my Virtual PC 2007 to the internet.

I'm running both Windows XP and Windows Vista virtually, and my host box is running Windows XP.
I'm using a wireless usb card [netgear wg111v2] to connect to my router. I even installed the Virtual Machine Network Services driver on my card. I've tried using the Shared Networking [NAT] setting and using the physical drive setting also. Nothing seems to work.

The closest I've been able to get with the connection is it told me I had conflicting IP addresses, but I'm not even sure how I got it say that much.

Do I have to install wireless drivers onto virtual pc? If so how do I do that?

Thanks!

[MrGroove]

Hi Animis,

I've not installed Virtual PC 2007 before however, the concepts should be very similar to the Virtual Server 2005 microsoft product.

To ensure we dont' get machines mixed up, let's clear up our terminology regarding Virtual Machines.
Host = Physical Machine which the Virtual Software is installed. This is the box HOSTING the virtual machines
Guest = Virtual Machines. These are the boxes running inside the Virtual software. We will call these guests or VM.

So, with that said let's fix your problem!

Do I have to install wireless drivers onto virtual pc? If so how do I do that?

No. This is a virtual machine so it has no concept of the actual network interface being used by the HOST machine. That's all handled by Virtual Software (Mapping to the Hosts Physical Network Card).

Did you install the Virtual Driver set on the GUEST system. These are called "Virtual Additions" on Virtual Server. Not sure what they are called on Virtual PC. Essentially these are the drivers which allow the GUEST to see all the Hardware that's assigned to it through the VM Software. They include the Network driver, video driver and other drivers to ensure the VM runs properly on the Virtual hardware.

Plz confirm.

Also, did you build this VM or did you copy it from another Virtual Platform? Perhaps you have the old driver set still installed on the Guest VM? Just take a look in the "Add remove programs" and see if you see any old VM Drivers. If you do, uninstall them, remove the network adapter, re-add the network adapter then re-install the VM Additions / drivers from the Virtual PC 2007 console. This should get everything cleaned up.

Keep me updated!

<FYI - Here is some Auxiliary information>

On the HOST system, when you create a new Virtual Guest, the first thing you do is configure what hardware you want installed on the guest system. One of these items is the Network Adapter. When you add the Network Adapter normally you have to choose which network you want the Adapter to be connected to. Normally the choices are an "Internal" network or a "NAT" or "Bridged" network.

The Internal network normally is a network only seen by other virtual machines. Normally this is used when you don't want you virtual machines to have any network connectivity with the "REAL" world or network.

The NAT or BRIDGED network allows the Guest system to use the Network card of the HOST so it can act just like any other computer on your network, grab an IP from DHCP etc... and surf the internet.

So, if you have a new VM Guest and you added a Network Adapter to it, the only other thing you should need to do is ensure you assigned the Adapter to the right network - IE: NAT or Bridged - Pointing it to your physical adapter on your host.

[Animis]

Yeah this is a copied guest box. This is what happens when I try to remove the drivers in XP.


I'm not on the administrator acount but I am on another account that has administrator privileges.
I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the network driver and it tries to aquire an IP but continuously stays at 0.0.0.0

In settings I used both NAT and the actual name of my external device.
This is a screen of the settings tab in Virtual 2007

[MrGroove]

Ok... Looks like the machine was in fact copied from a Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 box. The best way to fix this would be to boot the VM back up in the Virtual Server 2005 environment and uninstall the VM Additions there. That would be the CLEAN way to do it (and my recommendation). Another option is to uninstall VIrtual PC 2007 and just install Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 from Microsoft. It's free just like Virtual PC and runs well on most OS's (XP Included).

If your BRAVE however and lazy.... and want to TRY something, you can take the steps below. Be sure to backup the VM first. I recommend zipping up the folder where the VM is sitting on the host while it's turned off. This will save disk space.

WARNING - Before you start the steps below, try to put the Virtual Machine into "UNDO" mode. This is usually a setting on the Hard Drives in the Virtual Machine Config. settings on the Host. Another option is to make a backup the VM on disk and zip it as mentioned above.

With that said, if you can't uninstall it gracefully from the Add Remove Programs, you can TRY to forcibly rip it out. First delete the files from the file system - "c:\Program Files\Virtual Machine Additions" then scrub the registry removing all keys which point to that same folder. Be very careful, don't just delete every key that says "Virtual". Be sure to look for only keys that reference that file path.

Once you think you have it all, reboot the VM and try to install the Virtual Machine drivers from Virtual PC 2007. Let me know how it goes.

[Animis]

Okay, so I did it the lazy way and it seems to have worked. Hooray!
Thanks so much, I now have an internet connection, just finished downloading all the new security updates.

[MrGroove]

Excellent! Glad to hear your back in business!

[shockersh]

Hi there groovemaster,

I've been having some trouble connecting my Virtual PC 2007 to the internet.

Dude, any why are you using Virtual PC???? VMWare Server is free and far superior. They also have a converter to move to their platform.

Or, like MrGroove said you should move over to Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2. It's free and again, better than Virtual PC 2007.

(2 cents)

[MrGroove]

It's all about what works.

[Mroy]

Hiya,

I have a very similar problem.

Virtual PC 2007, XP OS on an XP host system.
Clean installation.

When I map the GUEST to the physical adapter of the HOST, I cannot connect to the internet or get an IP.
When I try to obtain IP, I get "unable to contact your DHCP server. Request has timed out".

Virtual Machine Additions is installed on the GUEST.

I have cable internet and the HOST has no problem connecting.
I used NAT in the VM and it works, but I want the VM to obtain a physical address instead.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Roy

[shockersh]

Hi Roy,

When I get home from work I'll install Virutal PC and see if I can repro your problem and give you a few pointers.

[Joseph]

Hiya,

I have a very similar problem.

Virtual PC 2007, XP OS on an XP host system.
Clean installation.

When I map the GUEST to the physical adapter of the HOST, I cannot connect to the internet or get an IP.
When I try to obtain IP, I get "unable to contact your DHCP server. Request has timed out".

Virtual Machine Additions is installed on the GUEST.

I have cable internet and the HOST has no problem connecting.
I used NAT in the VM and it works, but I want the VM to obtain a physical address instead.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Roy

If NAT is working, why worry about it? Just use the iP from the HOST.

Perhaps the problem is your DHCP server is not giving you another IP address because that MAC address already has an IP granted to it (from the host).

Have you tried to just hard-code an IP address to the guest system? Then you wouldn't need to worry about DHCP.

[Mroy]

As far as I know, the only binding between the provider and myself is via the modem MAC address, not the network adapter.

I tried releasing the connection from the HOST and obtaining just one IP from the GUEST.
Didn't work also.

Why not NAT?
I want to run stuff on both HOST and GUEST and not have them interfere with each other, despite the fact that they're both using the same physical network adapter.

I'm not sure if it's a limitation of Virtual PC/XP/etc or just a configuration problem or something fixable etc.

Any ideas?

[grooveDexter]

Heya Mroy,

Welcome to the site! We are happy to help.

So with your issue I have a quick question for ya!

Have you tried installing the Virtual Machine Network Services driver on your HOST's physical card?

It's pretty quick, go to Network Connections, Right-Click on the network card, then Select Properties. It will take you to the window shown in the screenshot above. From there Click Install, on the next prompt Click Service then Add... Another window will pop-up and ask you to Select a Network Service, Click Have Disk... Then browse to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual PC\Utility\VMNetSrv\VMNetSrv.inf and click OK OK OK.

I've also run into a few IP conflicts even with the service active, but it sorts itself out and works fine after about 15 seconds of booting.

I'm actually posting this from a XP GUEST box that had the same issue you are having

Let me know how it goes.

[Mroy]

Heya groovyCrew,

Thanks for the warm welcome!

I'm happy to hear that the feature does work somewhere
Actually I already have that driver installed.

Here is what I have so far:

Driver installed:


XP GUEST configured:


Fails to find DHCP still:


What else should I check?

[grooveDexter]

Ah!
There's a few other things it could be in this case.
Before troubleshooting it some more the first thing I would recommend is updating the drivers and possibly virtual pc, so we can rule out any known bugs from 2007.
I believe the most current Virtual Machine Services driver is 2.6.623.0 from 1/16/2008
The most recent Virtual PC is 6.0.192.0 SP1 -> Microsoft Download Link

The first thing is to try disabling the Windows Firewall.
If that doesn't work, leave the firewall off for now.
Since it's not able to contact the dhcp server, the fact that it thinks it's receiving a duplicate IP address makes me think it's something to do with your network card, either that or it actually is able to contact the dhcp server and just isn't getting along. Make sure the modem will lease more than enough IP's just in case.
Try assigning a static IP address, if that doesn't work then it's more likely something wrong with the connection of your GUEST to your Physical Host's Card.

If neither of these fixes the issue, then it could be something to do with the Virtual Machine Additions. The thing about the VMA's is they are also the drivers for GUEST's virtual network card. I'd try uninstalling them and then reinstalling them, especially if you were using an older version of Virtual PC.

[Animis]

That's crazy! I am having the same problem with the IP address conflict but my internet still works... I can't explain it


I got it to this point by following MRgroove's advice up top and deleting my Program Files\VMA folder, even though that could totally mess things up it got my internet working.

[Mroy]

I now updated to the latest Virtual PC SP1.
My Windows Firewall has been disabled for a while now - I don't use it in general.

I tried to assign a static IP to the GUEST, but it didn't communicate with the modem or the outer world.
I suspect that the guest is not getting to the modem, just like you said.

I removed, then reinstalled the VMAs. No change.
Bytes received on the GUEST local connection is 0.

Could the problem be with the VMAs still?
At this point it doesn't appear to have anything to do with the modem.

[goLfie]

you could try automatically obtaining an IP address, but manually assigning the DNS so that it matches your HOSTS DNS, Turning the router/modem off then back on is another thing. Since it is letting you use NAT it's gotta be one of three things.

1. Your virtual network card isn't resetting when you switch network adapter availability types. this is VMA related, (but if it's a fresh clean install it doesn't really make sense) in CMD do ipconfig /release anyways
2. Your physical network card didn't install the virtual machine services properly.
3. if your network card is old it just might be able to do it

if nothing else is working you could try something really crazy and download the intel 21140 drivers here then installing them on your virtual guest box
also run the network setup wizard from My Network Places
just my two-cents.

[Mroy]

Hi,

goLfie-

Thanks for taking the time to try and help out.
I tried most stuff you've suggested.

The HOST has relatively new hardware- Intel CORE DUO 3Ghz, Asus PQ5 motherboard, 4Gb RAM etc.
The physical network adapter I'm mapping the GUEST to is onboard (as most motherboards come with them) etc, so it's new. PCI-E, Gigabit etc.

The intel 21140 is unfortunately not on the Intel website anymore. I thought that could be an interesting idea but I can't actually find an updated (or any) matching driver to install instead. The PRO2KXP package does not seem to detect a network card when running on the GUEST. I don't think it actually has this driver, but either way.. it's not detecting it. I tried uninstalling/reinstalling the VMAs.

The only thing I didn't know what to do much about was your #2.
How would I know if VPC did not install the VMNS properly?

groovyCrew-
You said earlier
"Since it's not able to contact the dhcp server, the fact that it thinks it's receiving a duplicate IP address makes me think it's something to do with your network card."
That sounds very reasonable. But I've updated to the most current driver. Could it be that other components installed on the physical network adapter are interfering?

"Deterministic Network Enhancer"
Or other settings on the adapter?



Any other ideas?
Is there hope for this business?

Thanks everyone - for all the help thus far.
Roy

[MrGroove]

Nice work everyone. All very good suggestions.

It sounds Mroy that you have tried the reinstall AND most other options. Personally I would just use the NAT if that's working for you.

Is there something SPECIFIC your trying to do that won't work if you use NAT for the Virtual guest systems?

[Mroy]

Well, MrGroove,

I am trying to use a VPN on a HOST and at the same time work with the internet with no restriction through the guest.

The guest is limited in screen resolution, and does not quite fit my need as far as over-VPN applications.
Therefore, I need to tie the VPN to the adapter driver on the host.
But I am not able to get the guest to have an independent driver bound to the physical adapter.

Who knows where the problem is, but looks like I'll need to research this further.
Many thanks to the groovy team

Best,
Roy

[shockersh]

Well, MrGroove,

I am trying to use a VPN on a HOST and at the same time work with the internet with no restriction through the guest.

The guest is limited in screen resolution, and does not quite fit my need as far as over-VPN applications.
Therefore, I need to tie the VPN to the adapter driver on the host.
But I am not able to get the guest to have an independent driver bound to the physical adapter.

Who knows where the problem is, but looks like I'll need to research this further.
Many thanks to the groovy team

Best,
Roy

I've been doing this for a few years.

You need to move over to Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 SP1 R2. It's a free download and MUCH MUCH better than Virtual PC.

Basically I have it running on my Windows XP home box. When I need to VPN into work I RDP into the box, launch the VPN client and boom, I'm on the corp net. From there I RDP into all my work servers and desktops etc.... for support.

Just my 2 cents

[kcscm]

hey all

i have same problem

my host is windows xpsp2 and my guest is also windows xpsp2

i used shared shared networking ( NAT)

in my guest windows i cant access internet

but it showing internet connected but i cant browse websites.

when i run ipconfig all on my guest pc i got this and at same time i run on my host i got bot exactly same except description

in my guest it is showing intel network adapter but in my host it is showing VIA PCI adaptet

i have mercury motherboard



CAN ANY ONE PLEASE HELP ME

[MrGroove]

Yikes,

I don't have Virtual PC installed so I'll have to install it and get back to you on this one. First thing first however, looking at your addresses it appears your not using any network translation. Is this a home PC or a work PC? I ask because normally home networks use 192.168.x.x networks. If your on a home network I'm thinking your host machine is directly connected to your cable modem or DSL line?

I've had problems in situations like this on guest systems. I had to setup the HOST machine to distribute DHCP addresses to the guest VM's and enable NAT on the host. This fixed the problem.

You can also try a few other things:

1 - Can you ping your gateway - 219.91.236.225?
2 - Can you ping your DNS servers - 203.187.244.13?
3 - If yes to both, try to Ping www.groovypost.com. Result?

Keep us updated.

[grooveDexter]

okay after much review and thorough testing I wrote an article that should address all the problems people are having with their wireless cards and Virtual PC.

Read it here:
How To Setup Virtual PC Networking Using a Wireless Connection

And kcscm I hope your problem was resolved,
Just to clear things up, the intel adapter shown on your guest is the virtual machine addition adapter and it is entirely virtual. The physical adapter on your host will not show in on your guests "ipconfig /all". Virtual PC negotiates usage between your virtual guest's virtual adapter and the physical adapter on your host. The problem you are encountering is like MrGroove said it looks like you aren't connected to a router or a DHCP server. This means if your internet is going to work at all you'll have to go the NAT route. Good news is the Microsoft Loopback Adapter will solve your problem here too, read my article above and follow its instructions!

Haven't seen another post so I'm going to assume it was fixed! If not feel free to reply.

Thanks!