Networking problems in VMWare with wireless bridge

Posted by Robert Koritnik on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Robert Koritnik
Published on 2009-08-11T23:21:02Z Indexed on 2012/06/02 16:42 UTC
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Barebone data:

  • virtualization: VMWare Workstation 6.5 (latest)
  • Host: Windows Server 2008 x64
  • Guest: Windows Server 2008 x86
  • Host network adapter: Ethernet (see comment)
  • Host network adapter: Wireless (see comment)
  • Guest ethernet network adapter 1: Bridged VMNet (automatic)
  • Guest ethernet network adapter 2: Host only VMNet

comment: my host has LAN and Wifi but only one at the same time. I'm either wired or wireless. Never both. So bridged connection on VM goes either via wire or air.

Problem
When I'm wirelessly connected on the host and I access internet within VM my connection just gets stalled (not dropped). It doesn't experience any timeout whatsoever, it just stops downloading/communicating. For instance: I start downloading a file with a browser (IE/FF/CR doesn't matter) and I have to pause/restart download when speed drops to 0. I could wait indefinitely but connection won't pick-up automatically.

What did I miss in my network configuration?

Update 1

I've tested this in various combinations. This works fine when host is connected via Ethernet. But when host is connected via Wifi, the connection on the guest works as previously described. It connects fine. It gets a valid IP from DHCP... Everything is cool as long as you don't start doing some intensive network traffic (ie. download a 2MB file) In this case it starts downloading and stops after a while. Speed just drops to 0B/s... Sometimes it picks up back, sometimes it doesn't. Connection still stays and works. I can ping around with no problem.

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