If you are trying to connect your virtual machine to a local area network computer, but it is not working, or the Bridged network is not working in VMware, here are some solutions you can use to fix this problem. This is a very common scenario among new VMware users. Even if you have been using VMware for a long time and suddenly the Bridged networking has stopped working, you can also try these solutions.
There are many people, who often need to connect their virtual machine to a local area network computer to share files. This is very easy to do with your host machine. The problem begins when you try to do the same with a guest operating system in VMware. This happens because of the non-shared network adaptor which is responsible for creating the connection between a local area network computer and your virtual machine.
VMware Bridged network not working
If the Bridged network is not working in VMware Guest OS on Windows 11/10, then the following different ways will help you fix the Bridged network problem in VMware-
- Select the correct network connection
- Restart VMware Bridge Control
- Select a particular virtual network
- Select correct bridged network connection
- Restore all settings to default
- Disable unnecessary networks in the host computer
- Disable Firewall/VPN apps from the host computer.
1] Select connect network connection
By default, VMware uses NAT Used to share the host’s IP address option so that the virtual machine can use the host computer’s IP address while creating a network connection. This can create issues because of the IP conflict.
Therefore, you can choose the dedicated option, which can let you establish a Bridged connection with ease. If you select this option, it will allow you to replicate the host machine’s connection state. In other words, you will get more flexibility.
To use this option, select the virtual machine, and click the option that says Edit virtual machine settings. After that, select Network Adapter in the Hardware tab. On your right-hand side, you should get an option named Bridged: Connected directly to the physical network.
Select it and hit the OK button to save the change.
2] Restart VMware Bridge Control
Sometimes a simple restart fixes major issues. You can use the same technique to solve this problem as well. This is very easy to restart the VMware Bridge Control with the help of Command Prompt. If there are some internal issues in the VMware, that might be solved by doing this. To restart VMware Bridge Control, open Command Prompt with administrator privilege and enter these commands one after one-
net stop vmnetbridge net start vmnetbridge
3] Select a particular virtual network
If you choose Bridged, NAT, or Host-only option, there is a chance that VMware might use a wrong virtual network. Although that is very rare, it may happen with you. Therefore, this is a pretty good option for you to select the specific virtual network manually so that every loophole can be blocked.
To do that, pick the virtual machine, and click the Edit virtual machine settings option. After that, go to Network Adapter option. On your right-hand side, you should an option called Custom: Specific virtual network under the Network Connection section.
From here, you need to choose VMnet0 and save your settings.
4] Select a correct bridged network connection
By default, VMware automatically selects the network adapter while creating a Bridged network. If you are getting the error above with your guest OS, you can choose the correct network adapter to create a Bridged connection. For that, open VMware and go to Edit > Virtual Network Editor. After opening the window, you need to click the Change Settings button and give it the administrator permission to make any change.
After that, you should find VMnet0 on the list. Make sure this is selected. After that, choose Bridged from the VMnet Information and select your host computer’s network adapter from the drop-down menu.
Now click the OK button to save your change.
5] Restore all settings to default
If you have made a lot of tweaks and the Bridged network has stopped working after that, you can always use the reset option that will make everything like new. To utilize this option, open the Virtual Network Editor, and click the Change Settings button to make any change in this window. After that, you can find Restore Defaults option that you need to use.
6] Disable unnecessary networks in the host computer
If you have used your host computer to connect to multiple Ethernet connections, it can cause this issue. The best way to detect that is by disabling all the additional network adapters in the host computer. To do that, press Win + R to open the Run prompt and enter ncpa.cpl.
Here you can find all the networks connections. Right-click on each connection and select Disable. Do not disable currently connected network connection and all networks named VMware Network Adapter.
7] Disable Firewall/VPN apps from the host computer
Although it should not happen, sometimes the VPN can cause this issue too. If you have recently installed a VPN app or firewall software in your host or virtual machine, this is recommended to disable it temporarily and check whether the problem remains or not.
That’s it!
