How to do I connect a VMWare guest to the internet?

Question

I use WinXP on VMware inside Ubuntu 12.04.

Need connect VMware XP box to internet with some reliable algorithm through Host-only, NAT, or with Bridged connection.

Please suggest me any right way strategy for 1 network card (Atheros).

Answer 1

The most common solution is to use two network interfaces on your guest OS. One bridged and the other host only. This way you get bi-directional host-guest connections whether or not you have an external network connection.

It's detailed on the VMWare help page here.

If VMWare doesn't support bridged to Atheros wireless, I know that Virtualbox does.

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Solution from link above ("Removing a Host Virtual Adapter on a Linux Host") and common wizard to configure VMware virtual network:

1

Become root and run the VMware Workstation configuration script.

su
vmware-config.pl

2

Watch for the following question

Do you want networking for your Virtual Machines? (yes/no/help) [yes]

Answer Yes if you still want to use any networking in your virtual machines, then continue to the next question.

Otherwise, answer No to remove all networking.

3

If you answer Yes, the script prompts you to select the wizard or editor to edit your network configuration. Select editor. This is the only way to delete virtual network adapters without removing all of them.

Would you prefer to modify your existing networking configuration using the wizard  
or the editor? (wizard/editor/help) [wizard] editor

4

You see a list of virtual networks that have been configured. Select the network corresponding to the adapter you wish to disable.

The following virtual networks have been defined:

. vmnet0 is bridged to eth0
. vmnet1 is a host-only network on subnet 172.16.155.0.
. vmnet8 is NAT network on a private subnet 172.16.107.0.

Which virtual network do you wish to configure? (0-99) 1

5

You may be prompted to keep this virtual network. If you are sure you want to remove it, answer Yes to the question.

The network vmnet1 has been reserved for a host-only network. You may change it,
but it is highly recommended that you use it as a host-only network.
Are you sure you want to modify it? (yes/no) [no] yes

6

When prompted about the type of virtual network, select None and the virtual network will be removed.

What type of virtual network do you wish
to set vmnet1? (bridged,hostonly,nat,none) [hostonly] none 

Answer 2

Try Virtualbox instead its free and the internet is connected through your Ubuntu host so no messing I found this by far the best VM you even get 3D acceleration for graphics.

Alternatively you could look in to a dual boot then you can have windows and Ubuntu on the same machine and both run at full speed

Dual boot is the best way to go tho in my opinion if you need any advice on that post back here and let me know.

Answer 3

If you want to create a bridged network device and use that to connect your VM to the outside network, you can do it with /etc/network/interfaces. I'm going to assume that your main network device (on the host) is eth0 below. Note that few (if any) wireless drivers support bridging, so you'll probably need to have a wired connection for this to work. (See this question on Server Fault.) Once you've done this, you should have a 'bridged' network device available.

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If you already use /etc/network/interfaces to define your networks, you should have a section in it that looks something like this:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

There might also be some following lines (e.g. address X.X.X.X) if you're using static rather than dhcp in there.

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To define a new bridged network device, first ensure that you have the bridge-utils package installed.

Then copy all of those eth0 lines (the auto and iface sections, along with any options) within /etc/network/interfaces and change the device name to br0 in the new copy. Also add an extra option line somewhere in the iface br0 ... section that reads:

bridge_ports eth0

Then remove all of the old eth0 definition that you took the copy of and replace it with just this single line:

iface eth0 inet manual

So, if your eth0 section initially looked like the example above, you should now have this:

iface eth0 inet manual

auto br0
iface br0 inet dhcp
  bridge_ports eth0

The br0 bridge device has now taken on the role that eth0 had, and the bridge_ports and manual lines means that it will attach the physical eth0 hardware to itself in order to reach your network. Any other devices (such as the VM's virtual network card) that subsequently attach to the bridge will share this attachment to eth0, letting them access your network directly, like a real machine, rather than by proxying through your host.

See man 5 bridge-utils-interfaces for more details.

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If you manage your networks through Network Manager, you might not have an existing eth0 entry in /etc/network/interfaces, in which case you'll need to add one. If you just use plain DHCP, then the example above should be sufficient. If you have defined a static IP address, then you'll need to replicate your settings in the file. See 'The static Method' under 'INET ADDRESS FAMILY' in man 5 interfaces for details of the available options. Normally you'll just need to set the address, netmask, and gateway options.

By default, Network Manager will stay away from any devices that are defined in /etc/network/interfaces; however, if you set managed=true in section [ifupdown] of /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf then it will let you start and stop (though still not edit) those interfaces through the GUI applet as normal. See man 5 NetworkManager.conf for details.

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Note that you will need to manually bring these devices down before making changes, and then back up again afterwards, for example with

sudo ifdown eth0

and

sudo ifup br0

If all else fails, rebooting once the new configuration is in place should work.