Bridged networking broken in 17.6.1

[mascf]

Workstation Pro 17.6.1 won't let me create a bridged adapter in the Virtual Network Editor, it will only create a Host-Only adapter.

[a_p_]

How many physical network adapters do you have?

André

[mascf]

I reinstalled 17.6.1 and got the bridge adapter, but it doesn't work, no internet access.

[RaSystemlord]

You already got advice on this. I will add to this, if you still haven't got it working.

This does not feel (anymore) like a VMware problem, but a generic networking configuration issue. Check from one other computer what the settings need to be and set them accordingly.

There are many reasons why "automatic" does not work and you don't get the right addresses for the bridged VM. Change them manually and it works. In more detail:
- check that gateway is correct. If it isn't, you cannot get into internet but internal networking does work
- check and double-check that your VM address space is correct. Manually, you need to insert a fixed address which is outside the DHCP range ... referring to your NAT-box of some kind, let's call it router because everybody calls it that. You may need to change the router DHCP range because by default they are strange (for permanent use, I mean)

Finally, check that DNS address is correct. If it is wrong, internet still works, but you just cannot find a web server by using its name. Find out some ip-address and check with that in your web browser whether it works. You can also use Google DNS server, 8.8.8.8 as secondary or tertiary.

If your VM computer is Windows, a reboot may be required, debending on what you changed, even if it doesn't ask for it.

[mascf]

After reinstalling 17.6.1 I got the bridge adapter back, there are 3 virtual adapters.  There's no internet access with the bridged adapter and I already modified the settings to only use the physical network adapter on the host computer.

[Don Kelloway]

For future reference, you do not need to reinstall VMWare Workstation to correct an issue with misconfigured or corrupted virtual interfaces. All you should need to do is click the "Restore Defaults" button in the lower left corner and it'll rebuild the interface list to the default, which is what you're presently seeing, i.e. VMnet0 for Bridged, VMnet1 for Host-only and VMnet8 for NAT.

Aside from this, the screenshot you've provided reflects the VMnet0 interface set to "Auto-bridging" (Automatic) and not to a specific interface. Can you click the "Automatic" button (see screenshot), then provide a screenshot of the host network adapters to choose from.

Next, how are you determining there is no connectivity to the Internet using the Bridged interface? I assume you have a virtual machine configured with its virtual network interface to use VMnet0? And from within the virtual machine you're unable to obtain connectivity?

Expecting this to be the response, how is the LAN configured with regards to IP addressing? Does the LAN use DHCP or static-assigned IP addresses? If using DHCP, is the virtual machine being assigned an IP address for its use? Does the virtual machine have a proper nameserver (DNS) specified?

[Don Kelloway]

Additionally note there are multiple causes for no connectivity to the Internet. Assuming there are no issues with the configuration of the VMnet bridged interface to the Host, the next list of potential causes are the virtual machine and its configuration.

[mascf]

I had just the 1 network adapter selected for automatic. Everything is
fixed now. I had multiple issues with vmware after installing the windows
11 24H2 update and had to reinstall vmware workstation to fix the issues.
The windows update also broke the vmware usb arbitration service which is
also fixed after reinstalling.

[Don Kelloway]

Glad to read

[Donald Krieger]

Hi Don - Bridged networking does not work for my VM but NAT does. I clicked "Restore Defaults" in the Virtual Network Editor and it appears to be hung at "Installing network adaptors." You can see that vmnet0 is not listed in the adaptors. I am unable to assign "type" == "bridged" to vmnet1 and I get an error message: "Cannot change network to bridged: There are no un-bridged host network adaptors." I opened a thread about this about an hour ago entitled: "Windows 11 -- Workstation 17Pro; 17.6.1 build-24319023; Bridged network does not work" Your direction would be most appreciated either here or there. Thanks - Don 

[Don Kelloway]

In VMWare Workstation, click Edit, then select "Virtual Network Editor". Within the pop-up, click the "Change Settings" button.

After the pop-up reappears, please provide a screenshot of all of the interfaces defined.