No bridged network adapter is selected: Window8

[re_nelson]

I'm out of my element here in Windows since 99% of my computing time is spend in the familiar (and, for me, very comfortable) Linux environment. VirtualBox 4.2.16 "just works" in all aspects. It's so seamless that, when in fullscreen mode, I often forget that I'm working within a virtualized system.

For reasons not germane to the discussion, on occasion, I do have to boot into what's an awkward system for me, Windows 8. Actually with that same 4.2.16 version of VirtualBox, most of the core features work just as well as they do on Linux. The exception is setting Network -> Bridged Adapter. Although NAT mode is functional, my requirements are such that I really need bridged mode.

While trying to enable bridged mode, the error message, in red, is "no bridged network adapter is selected". There are numerous hits both in this forum and elsewhere and I worked through all of the recommendations to no avail. The dropdown selection widget has no option other than Not selected.

1). Uninstall VirtualBox...reboot...reinstall VirtualBox. Nope. Can't set bridged adapter although the option is enabled at install time (as is "Host Only") which also can't be enabled.

2). Set the value of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\MaxNumFilters up from 10 to 14. Again uninstall VirtualBox...reboot...reinstall VirtualBox. Still no means to enabled bridged mode.

3). Once again adjust the value of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\MaxNumFilters up from 14 to 20. As before uninstall VirtualBox...reboot...reinstall VirtualBox. No adapter is present to enable bridged mode.

4). Per other postings, I've also tried Advanced settings of NICs other the default of Intel PRO 1000-MT/Desktop and have tried both enabling and disabling promiscuous mode.

This is the same machine, ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P8Z77-V LX (Quad-Core Hyper-Threaded Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K @ 3.50GHz), that runs Linux (Linux from Scratch-SVN) where setting bridged mode works perfectly under that platform regardless of whether I name the underlying device "eth0" or "enp3s0" via udev. The NIC is the onboard RealTek RTL8168. Windows 8 (x86_64) is fully updated and the NIC works without fault under Windows as it does under Linux.

So I'm just stymied with enabling Bridged Adapter in VirtualBox 4.2.16.

Added later, for what it's worth, the fifth attempt at an uninstall...reboot...install cycle shows the following in the Event Viewer -> Applications:

Code: Select all

Windows Installer installed the product. Product Name: Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.2.16. Product Version: 4.2.16. Product Language: 1033. Manufacturer: Oracle Corporation. Installation success or error status: 0.

Log Name:      Application
Source:        MsiInstaller
Date:          8/6/2013 6:10:48 PM
Event ID:      11707
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:      Classic
Product: Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.2.16 -- Installation completed successfully.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="MsiInstaller" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">11707</EventID>
    <Level>4</Level>
    <Task>0</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2013-08-06T23:10:48.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>9045</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-21-3191880373-2381317430-2004887777-1001" />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>Product: Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.2.16 -- Installation completed successfully.</Data>
    <Data>(NULL)</Data>
    <Data>(NULL)</Data>
    <Data>(NULL)</Data>
    <Data>(NULL)</Data>
    <Data>(NULL)</Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
    <Binary>7B34434333343434442D373237392D344538332D393834462D3138453941374232453830337D</Binary>
  </EventData>
</Event>

[Perryg]

I am more interested in the following.

1) set the guest to bridged and start it.
2) post the following from the host VBoxManage list bridgedifs
3) post the following as well. VBoxManage showvminfo <guest name> --details (use " " if there is a space in the name)
4) Post the guests log file (as an attachment)
See Online Users Manual for the location of the file.
5) post the following as well from the host VBoxManage list systemproperties

Note: you can put all of this is a zipped attachment.

[re_nelson]

I am more interested in the following.

1) set the guest to bridged and start it.

Thanks for the quick response but I can't even get that far. Setting my host to bridged is prohibited by the UI since attempting to do yields "(X) Invalid settings detected" with the only button choices being [ Cancel ] and [ Help ].

2) post the following from the host VBoxManage list bridgedifs
3) post the following as well. VBoxManage showvminfo <guest name> --details (use " " if there is a space in the name)
4) Post the guests log file (as an attachment)
See Online Users Manual for the location of the file.
5) post the following as well from the host VBoxManage list systemproperties

Note: you can put all of this is a zipped attachment.

These items may be moot since I can't get beyond step 1 but the attached ZIP archive does have all that you requested.

[Perryg]

Strange indeed. Try disabling the host-only adapter in the Windows host network settings and reboot. Does this allow the bridged adapter to show as available and work?

[re_nelson]

Strange indeed.

For sure. As a Unix guy, I'm not much used to strange. Sure, there are oddities and complications but the transparency of those platforms inevitably leads to a solution and then, afterwards, the remedy seems so obvious.

Try disabling the host-only adapter in the Windows host network settings and reboot. Does this allow the bridged adapter to show as available and work?

Unfortunately that also failed to provide the "bridged adapter" that I was seeking. I've searched this forum and elsewhere in search of an answer. One individual mentioned that, on Windows XP, the Network Connections dialog will show the string VirtualBox among the entries. Granted that's from 2008 and is for XP but here's the link:

http://geekswithblogs.net/twickers/arch ... 27405.aspx

I'm not sure if this will be of any help, but my ethernet properties are shown here:

EthProps.png (21.93 KiB) Viewed 123639 times

While you mull this over, just for the heck of it, I'm going to wipe everything related to VirtualBox from the disk and the registry (after saving it, of course) and try anew with a small ISO, such as Slitaz.

[re_nelson]

...just for the heck of it, I'm going to wipe everything related to VirtualBox from the disk and the registry (after saving it, of course) and try anew with a small ISO, such as Slitaz.

That was also a no go. Even after removing all traces of anything with the (sub)strings VirtualBox and vbox from the registry as well as uninstalling...rebooting...and installing VB 4.2.16 yet again, there's no way for me to configure the "bridged adapter". I also turned off the Windows Firewall for an interval during this experiment as well as Windows SmartScreen. Slitaz came up fine but I was unable to adjust the network as desired.

Hmmm...as I now think this over, something jumped out at me. All of my Linux and Solaris boots on this box used a static IP address whereas Windows 8 (since I'm not really accustomed to that platform) uses DHCP. Before I investigate how to change to a static address, could that be the problem?

[re_nelson]

Hmmm...as I now think this over, something jumped out at me. All of my Linux and Solaris boots on this box used a static IP address whereas Windows 8 (since I'm not really accustomed to that platform) uses DHCP. Before I investigate how to change to a static address, could that be the problem?

Well...I was curious to see how the point-and-click world of Windows 8 allows a change from the default of DHCP to a static IP. For a guy used to editing text files for configurable items, this was a new experience...but the deed was done successfully.

But, I'm still back to where the thread started. Setting the "Bridged Adapter" for any VirtualBox 4.2.16 guest is disallowed. And to make this clear, here's a screenshot of VB as I attempt to enable that mode. Note that the ONLY choice from the selection dropdown widget is "Not selected":

Bridged-01.PNG (34.89 KiB) Viewed 123635 times

[mpack]

I'm not a Win8 user, so I'll use XP terminology: go into Control Panel | "Network Connections". Select your NIC and view the properties on it. Make sure that "VirtualBox Bridged Networking Driver" is listed and enabled as a service on this NIC. If it isn't listed then it's likely that your Win8 host is configured to silently reject drivers from sources whose certificates it doesn't like, hence you would need to reconfigure Win8 security (prompt instead of silently reject) then install VirtualBox again using "Run as administrator".

[BillG]

It is all still basically the same in Windows7/8, except it is called "Network and Sharing Center". You can get there from Control Panel or directly from the network icon in the taskbar near the date and time.

[re_nelson]

Select your NIC and view the properties on it. Make sure that "VirtualBox Bridged Networking Driver" is listed and enabled as a service on this NIC. If it isn't listed then it's likely that your Win8 host is configured to silently reject drivers from sources whose certificates it doesn't like, hence you would need to reconfigure Win8 security (prompt instead of silently reject) then install VirtualBox again using "Run as administrator".

A few posts up, I have a screen capture of the NIC properties and the "VirtualBox Bridged Networking Driver" is not listed. All of my installations of VB 4.2.16 have been done using the "Run as Administrator" menu option. What may be relevant to this matter is that I have to disable the USB feature. With that USB option checked, the installation fails with the progress bar halting and then rolling back to the start. So that aspect of VB does fail noisily rather than silently.

[mpack]

A few posts up, I have a screen capture of the NIC properties and the "VirtualBox Bridged Networking Driver" is not listed.

Yes, I saw that. I also saw that it has a scroll bar that (since it's only a picture) I can't scroll to see what else is in the list. Hence my post.

If the service is not listed for that NIC, you can't bridge to that NIC. If not listed then you probably have Win8 permissions configured incorrectly as I discussed above. "Run as adminstrator" is a precaution, but it will not help until you have fixed the underlying permissions problem. The USB filter driver issue is probably related.

[re_nelson]

A few posts up, I have a screen capture of the NIC properties and the "VirtualBox Bridged Networking Driver" is not listed.

Yes, I saw that. I also saw that it has a scroll bar that (since it's only a picture) I can't scroll to see what else is in the list. Hence my post.

If the service is not listed for that NIC, you can't bridge to that NIC. If not listed then you probably have Win8 permissions configured incorrectly as I discussed above. "Run as adminstrator" is a precaution, but it will not help until you have fixed the underlying permissions problem. The USB filter driver issue is probably related.

Your point that the absence any form of "VirtualBox" is absent from the ethernet properties gives me a starting point. Windows is a foreign operating system to me so I simply went with all of the defaults when I installed it back in December 2012. That said, there's usually good help available in the Microsoft forums for configuration issues, so that I can relax the security or, at least, get some feedback instead of a silent rejection if the cert isn't accepted.

If anyone else is running Windows 8 Pro and visits this thread, a pointer on how to configure networking so that the VirtualBox adapters show up in the ethernet properties would be appreciated. In the more familiar world of Linux, the loadable modules appear as vboxnetadp and vboxnetflt. I presume that through some incantation, these also would be loaded into kernel space in Windows as well.

[re_nelson]

SOLVED: Bridged Adapter now present in VirtualBox -> Settings -> Network

If the service is not listed for that NIC, you can't bridge to that NIC. If not listed then you probably have Win8 permissions configured incorrectly as I discussed above. "Run as adminstrator" is a precaution, but it will not help until you have fixed the underlying permissions problem.

This was the hint that pushed me in the right direction. Up until this point, "Run as Administrator" was how I had installed VirtualBox (4.2.16), thinking it was similar to sudo in Unix, the method by which I install programs on those platforms.

The problem was ultimately resolved by actually logging in to the Administrator account and then uninstalling and installing VB yet again. During this process, after being notified that networking might be disrupted, I noticed several flashes on the screen and small windows momentarily opening. All prior installation attempts never had this phenomena. The successful end result is shown in pictorial form below:

Smaller_VirtualBox_EthProps_Fixed.png (62.53 KiB) Viewed 123585 times

Smaller_VirtualBox_Bridged_Fixed.png (75.88 KiB) Viewed 123585 times

[mpack]

"Run as administrator" does indeed allow you to run with elevated privileges, just like sudo. However the form of driver certification checking is a matter of configuration, not of privilege, and your normal user account was undoubtedly configured to silently discard drivers with questionable certificates (in Microsoft's mind: anything not bought from Microsoft). OTOH it appears that your admin user profile is configured to silently accept, which I would consider to be the opposite extreme.

The better long term solution IMHO would be to reconfigure your normal user account (*) to prompt for permission when asked to install drivers. Of course the configuration change will itself require elevated privileges. Then you should be able to install VirtualBox (though again with elevated privileges).

(*) Google for "Driver Signature Enforcement".

[re_nelson]

(*) Google for "Driver Signature Enforcement".

Thanks for that information. As an infrequent Windows user (I've only booted into Win 8 four times since I installed it nine months ago), I doubt that I ever would have come across that setting. It's interesting that no feedback is provided once the reboot occurs and the '7' key is pressed to toggle the state. In any case, it works and I'm now quite satisfied and appreciate the assistance.