Microsoft Edge and host only adapter

[Dimitar.Ivanov]

Hi everybody thanks for the wonderful community!
I am having hard time getting MS Edge (on Windows 10 Pro host VB Version 5.0.16 r105871) to open an website on guest CentOS 7. The guest has two adapters: Host-only used for development, and bridged to provide internet to the guest machine.
I can access the guest through both IP and hostname from all other browsers. MS Edge can not connect, and shows "Hmm, we can't reach this page." Localhost is resolved and opens even in Edge.
If I change the network to bridged I can open the site in MS Edge. But I don't want to do that.
Has somebody tackled this situation and found a fix for the host-only adapter?

[mpack]

You are doing web development in the guest? This discussion doesn't sound like it belongs in "Windows Hosts". Moving it to "Linux Guests".

[Perryg]

I can access the guest through both IP and hostname from all other browsers. MS Edge can not connect,

Since this is really about edge and Linux does not even know what it is I don't really know what help you can get here. Especially since other browser work. I would think you would need to ask MS what the problem really is. I suppose it could be due to their restrictive network plan I guess but that too would not be a VirtualBox issue.

[mpack]

I'm as ready to bash Microsoft as the next guy, but an Internet browser has to be able to view web pages. If it can't then it won't survive long. So, I can't think of what requirement Edge could have that would make it different from other browsers. I'm thinking it will simply be a bad network config somewhere.

[Perryg]

Sure and I said it could be their restrictive network or Edge itself. I wouldn't really know since I don't do Windows. Still if all browser works while in host-only except Edge it can't be a network config. issue that I can think of unless I am reading this wrong. IP is just IP as far as I know.

[Perryg]

Maybe this will help:
https://www.google.com/search?q=edge+ca ... +this+page

68.5 million hits for "edge can't reach this page" should give some indication. Maybe there might be a solution there as well.

[mpack]

Still if all browser works while in host-only except Edge it can't be a network config.

Well, it so happens that just today I had our IT guy fix a problem on my dev PC at work: Pale Moon and Firefox both one day (and persistently after) refused to open a specific web page - all other web pages worked. IE opened the page just fine. My other PC on the same switch could open the same web page just fine using all browsers.

It turned out that Pale Moon and Firefox on the problem PC had somehow been configured to ignore the system proxy. For some reason that only mattered if the web page needed a non standard port (e.g. https://url:2083).

It wasn't a bug in Firefox, it was a simple config problem.

[Perryg]

Config. problem probably but not in the Linux guest. I don't want to seem argumentative just trying to be clear. I don't see how this could possibly be a Linux guest or web server issue if another browser works. The only possibility would be the iptable in the CentOS guest rejecting a port ( it does by default ), but if that was borked then no other browser could possibly work either and since they say other browsers do work I am at a loss as to what in the Linux guest would cause such a thing.

One other observation I would make:
The OP says that when using bridged mode even Edge works. But when using host-only Edge failed but no other browser fails. I assume the OP is not using a proxy in this mode because it is a host to guest connection only and no real network is involved just a simple loop back device.

[Dimitar.Ivanov]

The problem is not related to the guest at all. It is somewhere between Edge and the virtual host-only adapter. As I said with a bridged adapter the problem is non existent. I've searched the web all over, but didn't find a solution. Edge has all sorts of problems connecting to intranet/local on it's own, but this is something different.
I can open sites hosted on local machine using hostname/127.0.0.1/localhost with Edge. I can also open sites on the local network, but I am not able to open site hosted on a guest with host-only network adapter in Edge. On all other browsers it works.

[mpack]

I'm still not convinced this isn't a guest network config problem (all the appropriate protocols being implemented there and not in the "hardware"), however I will move this topic back to "Windows Hosts".

Btw, using "bridged" meant you were on a different network with different permissions, so I'm not sure what you think that test proved.

[Perryg]

Since their other browsers can use the host-only adapter and work, how can it possibly be the host-only in VirtualBox or protocol setting in the guest that is causing the problem? An issue like this would prevent any browser from working. Even your example with Pale Moon and Firefox Don was a setting in the browser wasn't it?

Anyway I will leave this with you Windows folks to deal with. If you can point out an issue with VirtualBox or Linux let me know and I will be happy to look into it.

[caramba]

I'm not saying this is a virtualbox problem - as all other browsers work fine. But I would just like to make the observations that: the problem remains very real; that there are a lot of "windows folk" out there; and that it is very likely that more and more are going to be "required" to develop and test for Edge. I have tried every "solution" I can find on the web, and not one allows my Edge on Win 10x64 (not an upgrade) to access a Virtualbox 5.0.22 guest via the host network.

My sense is therefore that this is something that needs an answer, and fairly snappily, to prevent developers being forced to take drastic measures such as migrate to hyper-v just to test with Edge . I for one really don't want to be forced down that road, so I would greatly appreciate any input that anyone can provide on this issue. thanks!

[mpack]

If you have a problem with the Edge browser you'd best ask Microsoft about it. We'll deal with your problem if you show it to be a VirtualBox problem.

[caramba]

Hi, there is one interesting thing I've noticed regarding the virtualbox host only adapter and that is when selecting:

1. Control Panel => Network and sharing centre => Change adapter settings
2. Right click on "VirtualBox Host-only Network" adapter
3. Select "Status" from the menu

I see that:

Packets Sent = 0
Packets Received = 0

...and this packet count does not change from 0, even when I am successfully accessing the virtualbox guest server web site from Chrome (or any browser that is not Edge)

Other things that are relevant regarding this finding
1. I have seen exactly the same behaviour - ie. 0 packets of adapter traffic - on 3 different windows 10 machines
2. I have disabled all other adapters during the test so I know that the traffic is moving through the adapter that is showing 0 packets.

So my thinking is as follows:
1. There is something anomalistic about the way windows 10 is detecting/interacting with the virtual box host only adapter; and
2. Potentially, Edge connects differently from other browsers, and is being affected by this anomaly.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

(Referring to @mpack's comment above - I would appreciate it if someone could let me know whether this is something that the VB team would look into or whether the take is still that this is a Windows problem and thus nothing to do with VirtualBox - thanks)

[caramba]

Hi, the silence in response to my last post is pretty deafening. I'm not at all expecting an answer but given mpack's earlier comment I would really appreciate any response to indicate whether or not anyone has any intention of looking at what I have raised, or whether it is still considered a "non-virtualbox" issue. Thanks