muddle wrote: the posted settings files were not all captured in the same moment.
Very helpful. NOT. You might as well forget about everything I've posted. I have no idea what your issue is.
In the future, when you are having an issue, post consistent information that is all reflecting one moment in time while the issue is occurring. This is a simple troubleshooting skill.
I was hoping for a textbook answer given a specific requirement: Host-Guest communications must work when Wi-Fi is UP and Host-Guest communications must work when Wi-Fi is DOWN. The solution must be robust enough to work when Wi-Fi is UP and must not depend on Wi-Fi being UP.
In terms of simple troubleshooting, lets just say the Wi-Fi is DOWN.
Your description of VirtualBox Wi-Fi sometimes working, and sometimes not, suggests it is VirtualBox that needs to re-evaluate their approach to troubleshooting
Last edited by socratis on 19. Aug 2017, 00:44, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:Removed unnecessary verbatim quote of the whole previous message.
Network problems are difficult at any time, even when you are onsite and have all the information you need. They are very difficult in a forum context, and impossible when the information is inconsistent, irrelevant and/or inaccurate.
Do not transcribe information - always post the actual output of ipconfig or ifconfig commands for all machines, host or guest.
Do you know why the host only interfaces are not using the default subnet of 192.168.56.0/24 ? Or why the IP address of the guest's host only adapter is manual? Normally the guest would get its config automatically and it would be a 192.168.56 address (probably 192.168.56.101) and would communicate with the host's 192.168.56.1 host only interface. You might note that you have an interface which has this config but it is disabled.
Static routes would not help you. No routing in fact takes place on the host only network. If the machines are in the same subnet they communicate directly using hardware MAC addressing and this takes priority over any routed connection.
Host only networks do not have default gateways - they are designed for one to one communication and traffic is not routed.
Whether bridged networking over wifi works or not depends on the wifi equipment, not on VirtualBox. Manufacturers all use different methods to implement the standards and some do it better than others. It usually works, but occasionally it either fails or it disrupts the host's connection.
Is there a reason why the guest additions are not installed?