VMs losing network connectivity when rebooted

[Vrtigo1]

I have several Windows 2008 R2 VMs that are losing network connectivity when they are rebooted.  This has led to issues when VMs reboot after installing Windows Updates.  The VMs are using the E1000 adapter type (single NIC) and the adapters show connected in both the vSphere client and in Windows and the Windows IP configuration appears to be correct, however traffic is simply unable to pass - can't ping anything, get any ARP replies, etc.  If you physically plugged a computer into a hub that wasn't connected to anything else that would duplicate the symptom I am experiencing.

If I go into network connections in Windows and disable/enable the adapter then that fixes the problem and gets things working again, so that would seem to indicate this is a Windows problem of some sort, but I just don't know how to go about fixing it.

For what it's worth, at least one of these VMs was previously an AWS instance that I converted using vmware converter standalone.  Other than this one issue the VM has worked fine and has been stable.

The VM is running on ESXi 5.5.0 build 1746018 and I am running vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.0 build 2001466.  VMware tools shows that it is up to date for all affected VMs.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

[CoolRam]

This seems like ESXi networking unstable.Can you please upgrade ESXi 5.5 latest Update release. Hope it will resolve issue,

its been discuss in the KB VMware KB: The virtual machine loses network connectivity after a reboot and the Connected option does not remain se…

[Vrtigo1]

Hello,

Thank you for the suggestion, however I am  not able to upgrade ESX at this time (would need to properly plan and schedule the upgrade).  Additionally, I saw the issue you linked in the KB, however the symptoms it describes are different than what I am experiencing.  In the KB it mentions that the connected checkbox for the VM will show unchecked which is not the case here.

Thanks