Problem with networking on Windows 7 guest
Posted: 12. Jul 2010, 10:41
Hi everyone
I've been using VirtualBox for more than a year. I recently upgraded my host to Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit and guest to Windows 7 64-bit. I've now run into a problem that is making it impossible for me to work productively.
My Setup
VirtualBox: 3.2.6
Host: Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit
Guest: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Networking: Bridged with Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Desktop Adapter for the guest
Guest Network Adapter Driver: Intel v8.3.15.0 (2008/09/23)
Problem Description
Everything worked fine for about a week, but then my Windows 7 guest strangely started loosing it's network connection intermittently, sometimes after a few hours, sometimes every 5 minutes.
Everything will work fine for a while, and then suddenly the network in the guest will be gone. After the connection is lost I can't ping any computers on the Internet, or on my local network from the guest, and I also can't ping the guest from my host or other computers on my local network. The host network still functions fine - I can ping other computers in my local network and access the Internet.
A minute or two the guest network connection is lost, the network connection icon on the Windows 7 guest task-bar changes to contain a little yellow triangle with an exclamation mark in it.
If I right-click on this icon and select "Troubleshoot problems", a windows diagnostic tool runs and does various network tests (I assume), including resetting the adapter. It always finishes with a report of problems found, with the only problem listed as "The default gateway is not available", which it apparently fixed.
After this procedure the network will work fine again, for a while, until the problem repeats itself.
Fixes Tried
I've done a lot of searching on the Internet for a solution. It seems that this network connection loosing problem is common with many Windows 7 installations (not only as virtual machines), especially for systems using NVIDIA nForce network controllers. The fix for such systems is to upgrade the network drivers.
Since the network setup for Windows 7 in Virtual Box uses the Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Desktop Adapter I assume there may be a similar problem with the network drivers for that adapter in Windows 7. I've tried to upgrade the drivers, without success (I don't think a newer version is available than the one that ships with Windows 7).
I've also tried, without success:
- Disabling IPv6
- Disabling IPv4 Checksum Offload
- Disabling IPv4 TCP Checksum Offload
- Disabling IPv4 UDP Checksum Offload
- Disabling IPv4 Large Send Offload
- Disabling & uninstalling virus scanner
- Selecting a different network adapter in the VirtualBox setup - but no drivers are available for those adapters in Windows 7
- Rolling back to a prior version of VirtualBox (3.2.4)
- Rolling back to a backup of a my guest VDI that was made in the week when everything seemed to work without problems
Feedback Please
Is anyone else experiencing similar network issues with Windows 7 guests?
Has anyone found a solution to the problem?
I've been using VirtualBox for more than a year. I recently upgraded my host to Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit and guest to Windows 7 64-bit. I've now run into a problem that is making it impossible for me to work productively.
My Setup
VirtualBox: 3.2.6
Host: Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit
Guest: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Networking: Bridged with Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Desktop Adapter for the guest
Guest Network Adapter Driver: Intel v8.3.15.0 (2008/09/23)
Problem Description
Everything worked fine for about a week, but then my Windows 7 guest strangely started loosing it's network connection intermittently, sometimes after a few hours, sometimes every 5 minutes.
Everything will work fine for a while, and then suddenly the network in the guest will be gone. After the connection is lost I can't ping any computers on the Internet, or on my local network from the guest, and I also can't ping the guest from my host or other computers on my local network. The host network still functions fine - I can ping other computers in my local network and access the Internet.
A minute or two the guest network connection is lost, the network connection icon on the Windows 7 guest task-bar changes to contain a little yellow triangle with an exclamation mark in it.
If I right-click on this icon and select "Troubleshoot problems", a windows diagnostic tool runs and does various network tests (I assume), including resetting the adapter. It always finishes with a report of problems found, with the only problem listed as "The default gateway is not available", which it apparently fixed.
After this procedure the network will work fine again, for a while, until the problem repeats itself.
Fixes Tried
I've done a lot of searching on the Internet for a solution. It seems that this network connection loosing problem is common with many Windows 7 installations (not only as virtual machines), especially for systems using NVIDIA nForce network controllers. The fix for such systems is to upgrade the network drivers.
Since the network setup for Windows 7 in Virtual Box uses the Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Desktop Adapter I assume there may be a similar problem with the network drivers for that adapter in Windows 7. I've tried to upgrade the drivers, without success (I don't think a newer version is available than the one that ships with Windows 7).
I've also tried, without success:
- Disabling IPv6
- Disabling IPv4 Checksum Offload
- Disabling IPv4 TCP Checksum Offload
- Disabling IPv4 UDP Checksum Offload
- Disabling IPv4 Large Send Offload
- Disabling & uninstalling virus scanner
- Selecting a different network adapter in the VirtualBox setup - but no drivers are available for those adapters in Windows 7
- Rolling back to a prior version of VirtualBox (3.2.4)
- Rolling back to a backup of a my guest VDI that was made in the week when everything seemed to work without problems
Feedback Please
Is anyone else experiencing similar network issues with Windows 7 guests?
Has anyone found a solution to the problem?