Bridged network driver causing connectivity delay on host

[BajaPaul]

I am inquiring here to see if any others have noticed the network adapters in their host taking a long time to connect to their network when booting or logging in after a resume? Sometimes it seems to take about 5 minutes for my adapters to connect. It seems takes forever to get on the internet. But they do eventually connect and everything works as it should.

If I uncheck the Virtualbox Bridged Networking Driver under Local Area Connection Properties of the host adapters the problem goes away, ie, they connect almost instantly. This has been happening a long time over a couple of Vbox revisions. I have been trying to isolate the problem and I feel it is Virtualbox. This was really elusive since Virtualbox wasn't even running while this issue was occuring. It has something to do with the bridged adapter installed by Vbox.

So my work around is to leave the box unchecked in my networking properties on my network adapters until I am ready to use Vbox.

Host is W7RC 64-bit Nvidia 680i MOBO w/ 2 network adapters
Virtualbox Version 3.0.6 r52128
Firewall router provides host IP's so everthing is set to automatic in the adapters

PS: I can see the effect of the Vbox driver in action by enabling it on one adapter. The unenabled adapter connects quickly while the enabled one eventually connects with considerable delay. New work around is to just enable it on one adapter.

[vbox4me2]

I've only seen this when some adapters have the alternate IP settings page in use.

[misha]

To all that were having this issue: could you check if it still exists with VBox 3.1.
If yes, could you specify whether you have any custom networking-related software installed, e.g. VPN clients, Anti-virus, other hypervisors (like VMWare or Virtual PC), etc.

[vb-fan]

To all that were having this issue: could you check if it still exists with VBox 3.1.
If yes, could you specify whether you have any custom networking-related software installed, e.g. VPN clients, Anti-virus, other hypervisors (like VMWare or Virtual PC), etc.

Yes, it exists!! My VB version is v3.2.8 and I have to wait forever till my LAN starts working!
I'm having kerio virtual netwok (VPN) client adapter installed, but until virtualbox installed, I had never had problems with LAN long start

[jonnybignote]

For me also this is a big problem. I must have spent 6 hours today trying to figure out why my machine refuses to by woken up remotely (Wake-On-Lan) and then when woken manually (keyboard) the network connection was unavailable. I didn't try waiting 5 mins for it. Partly my fault, I should have tried disabling VB bridged networking adapter first instead of the myriad and complex efforts I've been undertaking.

A real pain in the backside though...will not be using that component until this is fixed

Thanks

[vb-fan]

So, as we can see now, the problem is still very relevant indeed and very urgent! Dear developers, please take immediate attention to this problem, VB is excellent in all except this.

[BillG]

This problem is not unique to VirtualBox. Installing other virtualization systems can also upset the way the NIC in the host behaves. The filter driver (VirtualBox Bridged Networking Driver in this case) which is installed in the host has to work with the NIC driver in the host OS to enable networking for the guest. The filter driver intercepts traffic addressed to the guest before it reaches the host OS. Problems arise if these two pieces of software do not work well together. Sometimes network connections on the host fail completely when the filter driver is installed.

The first thing to do is to check that you have the latest version of the NIC driver installed in the host OS. This usually clears the problem. If the problem is actually in the NIC driver of the host, there is not much that the VirtualBox devs can do.

[vb-fan]

This problem is not unique to VirtualBox. Installing other virtualization systems can also upset the way the NIC in the host behaves.... The first thing to do is to check that you have the latest version of the NIC driver installed in the host OS. This usually clears the problem. If the problem is actually in the NIC driver of the host, there is not much that the VirtualBox devs can do.

I have never before had this sort of problem with my current LAN card and its drivers! Now my OS is server 2008 R2, my card has been Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 PCI-E Ethernet Controller(NDIS6.20), current driver provider is Atheros Communicatons, version 1.0.0.15). Earlier I had windows 7 (with same hardware and different driver versions)+ MS Virtual PC, VMware (both server and workstation versions) - and None of the combination had any similar problem! So I insist the problem is with VB bridge driver!

[BillG]

I could just as easily say that I have never had this problem on any of my machines, so it cannot be a VirtualBox filter driver problem! The fact that you have not seen it before proves nothing. I do know that other people have had this sort of problem, and not just with VirtualBox filter drivers. Updating the NIC driver on the host OS fixes many of them.

[vb-fan]

Updating the NIC driver on the host OS fixes many of them.

And if there is no update, then is there nothing left besides stop using VirtualBox?

[BillG]

Another possibility is that the filter driver did not install properly. Doing a repair install of VirtualBox should fix that. Apart from that the only solution would be to use a different NIC.

[vb-fan]

Another possibility is that the filter driver did not install properly. Doing a repair install of VirtualBox should fix that.

I tried this (did not help)

Apart from that the only solution would be to use a different NIC.

My NIC is built in my motherboard (P5P43TD), so I can't change it (and to buy and install one more NIC just for LAN start without 5 minutes delay - I doubt that it's worth it). Besides, at home (where I try all this) I don't actually very much need virtual machines - I just test things at home before deploying them at work (but untill now, there has never been anything that would be bad at home and good at work)

[jonnybignote]

This problem is not unique to VirtualBox. Installing other virtualization systems can also upset the way the NIC in the host behaves. The filter driver (VirtualBox Bridged Networking Driver in this case) which is installed in the host has to work with the NIC driver in the host OS to enable networking for the guest. The filter driver intercepts traffic addressed to the guest before it reaches the host OS. Problems arise if these two pieces of software do not work well together. Sometimes network connections on the host fail completely when the filter driver is installed.

The first thing to do is to check that you have the latest version of the NIC driver installed in the host OS. This usually clears the problem. If the problem is actually in the NIC driver of the host, there is not much that the VirtualBox devs can do.

I too have MS VirtualPC Win7 and have had Vmware running ok also - so far just Virtualbox NIC driver is the one causing the problem and I'm sure it has something to do with resuming from suspend (S3) - probably no unloading properly prior to going down...

[vb-fan]

Added ticket: http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/7480

[vb-fan]

Important note! There is a suspicion that the problem is mainly with the hideous quality Atheros NIC and/or its drivers! At work where I have similar Atheros L1 gigabit ethernet NIC (and Virtualbox installed) today my PC just hang tightly several times (total freeze with ctrl+alt+del not working, no keyboard/mouse reaction) when a client just connected to a shared folder! And only after I replaced the NIC (with a d-link DFE-520TX) all problems gone away!