VM PXE Booting via Bridged Interface

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rajb
Posts: 8
Joined: 4. Oct 2021, 22:29

VM PXE Booting via Bridged Interface

Post by rajb »

I'm having an issue with VirtualBox 6.1.26. I'm using VirtualBox for running VMs for testing updates and to create reference/gold images of Windows workstations on a Windows 10 host. Recently, I noticed a strange issue when trying to boot via PXE (i.e. to deploy or capture a WDS image). Sometimes I boot with no issue and other times, the PXE boot process times out and I see the "no dhcp or proxydhcp offers were received" error. Running a packet capture on the bridged interface, I see the DHCP process traffic when it works and no DHCP process traffic when it doesn't. The ethernet NIC on the host is the Intel Ethernet Connection 1219-LM with the driver version 12.19.1.32 (11/5/2020).

Has anyone else ran into this issue? Does anyone have any idea on how to resolve this?
scottgus1
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Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: VM PXE Booting via Bridged Interface

Post by scottgus1 »

The adapter that is Bridged to the VM needs to be connected to something so the blinkenlichten on the adapter are blinken. :lol: See Virtualbox Networks: In Pictures: Bridged Adapter

Try to see if Bridged is still connected when the PXE VM fails to connect.

One thing though, if you're planning to sysprep and mdt the VM, there's problems doing that, web-search "sysprep mdt site:forums.virtualbox.org"
rajb
Posts: 8
Joined: 4. Oct 2021, 22:29

Re: VM PXE Booting via Bridged Interface

Post by rajb »

Yes, the bridged NIC is connected to the network...
rajb
Posts: 8
Joined: 4. Oct 2021, 22:29

Re: VM PXE Booting via Bridged Interface

Post by rajb »

I'm only using WDS with custom created Answer Files via Windows Configuration Designer. I haven't experienced an issue yet. I'm running sysprep on the reference image before I start the capture process thru WDS. I'm not sure if that makes a difference.
scottgus1
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Re: VM PXE Booting via Bridged Interface

Post by scottgus1 »

rajb wrote:Yes, the bridged NIC is connected to the network...
OK, are you able to ping along the Bridged connection from the VM to the outside world while the boot process is not working? Is there some command line you can bring up to try a ping?
rajb
Posts: 8
Joined: 4. Oct 2021, 22:29

Re: VM PXE Booting via Bridged Interface

Post by rajb »

scottgus1 wrote:OK, are you able to ping along the Bridged connection from the VM to the outside world while the boot process is not working? Is there some command line you can bring up to try a ping?
Yes. The host is a production desktop at the office which I remote into most of the time from my laptop. In fact, I was connected via RDP while trying to test PXE booting from VirtualBox.
scottgus1
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Re: VM PXE Booting via Bridged Interface

Post by scottgus1 »

Good, so the connection to the host stays up. Question is, does the connection to the VM stay up?
scottgus1 wrote:are you able to ping along the Bridged connection from the VM to the outside world while the boot process is not working? Is there some command line you can bring up to try a ping?
rajb
Posts: 8
Joined: 4. Oct 2021, 22:29

Re: VM PXE Booting via Bridged Interface

Post by rajb »

scottgus1 wrote:Good, so the connection to the host stays up. Question is, does the connection to the VM stay up?
I believe so. All I have to do is keep rebooting until the VM sends DHCP traffic and PXE boot works. Again, I have verified the DHCP traffic and lack there of via sniffing traffic using Wireshark from the host on the bridged interface.
rajb
Posts: 8
Joined: 4. Oct 2021, 22:29

Re: VM PXE Booting via Bridged Interface

Post by rajb »

I noticed something new today... I started up two of my VMs and they would get an IP but didn't have any connectivity. I couldn't ping the default gateway or the DNS servers in the VM. I updated WireShark to the latest version with NetPcap on the host PC and it must have reset the NIC. The VM had connectivity.

I then tried to update the NIC driver from the host PCs manufacturer's support site and it reset the NIC and the VMs lost connectivity again. I'm going to try to download the NIC driver directly from Intel's website, as it's more recent, update the NIC driver, and I will test again afterward.
scottgus1
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Re: VM PXE Booting via Bridged Interface

Post by scottgus1 »

I'm still not certain if a ping inside the VM shows connectivity when the boot environment fails. (Provided there is a way to open a command line and try a ping inside the VM.) Still haven't had response on the inside-the-VM ping attempt.

However, a way to test Bridged on the host, so as to test if Virtualbox is failing or some other part, is to have another small-footprint test VM running Bridged to the same network as the failing-boot VM. If the boot-VM fails to get connection but the test VM is able to maintain connectivity, then it is likely not Virtualbox Bridged that is having the problem. It would likely be something else that is failing.
rajb
Posts: 8
Joined: 4. Oct 2021, 22:29

Re: VM PXE Booting via Bridged Interface

Post by rajb »

rajb wrote:I then tried to update the NIC driver from the host PCs manufacturer's support site and it reset the NIC and the VMs lost connectivity again. I'm going to try to download the NIC driver directly from Intel's website, as it's more recent, update the NIC driver, and I will test again afterward.
Updating the NIC driver helped for a little bit but I still had trouble getting a VM to boot using PXE. However, after a few reboots, it started to work again.
rajb
Posts: 8
Joined: 4. Oct 2021, 22:29

Re: VM PXE Booting via Bridged Interface

Post by rajb »

scottgus1 wrote:I'm still not certain if a ping inside the VM shows connectivity when the boot environment fails. (Provided there is a way to open a command line and try a ping inside the VM.) Still haven't had response on the inside-the-VM ping attempt.

However, a way to test Bridged on the host, so as to test if VirtualBox is failing or some other part, is to have another small-footprint test VM running Bridged to the same network as the failing-boot VM.
The VMs that I'm generally trying to boot from don't have an OS installed. However, there are other VMs that I can test with.
scottgus1 wrote:If the boot-VM fails to get connection but the test VM is able to maintain connectivity, then it is likely not VirtualBox Bridged that is having the problem. It would likely be something else that is failing.
Potentially, but when the VM attempting to boot fails, I don't see traffic via WireShark while capturing traffic on the host's interface that is used for all traffic (VM bridged and host traffic).
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