Vista 64 Virtual Box Network Driver Kills Wake on Lan

[sweetpapa]

Hi, I'm using Virtualbox 2.1.0-41146 on a Vista 64 Host. I find that when I install the network drivers for Virtualbox, I can't wake up the computer through the network adapter. Wake-on-lan doesn`t function anymore.

If I uninstall Virtualbox and reinstall Virtualbox without the Virtualbox network driver, wake-on-lan works. But I can't use Host Interface networking this way.

Anybody else have this problem or have a solution?

Is there a way to get wake-on-lan to work on a Vista 64 host with the Virtualbox network driver?

[Sasquatch]

If you have direct evidence that the VB driver is the problem, report it in the Bugtracker. You do need a separate account for it though. Post as much info as you can.

[Troodon]

I have a similar problem in Vista Home Premium 32 bit. I installed Virtualbox 2.1.4 three days ago and, ever since, my computer can't wake up from hibernation upon receiving requests on the NIC. I will uninstall Virtualbox today for diagnostic purposes.

[sweetpapa]

I have a similar problem in Vista Home Premium 32 bit. I installed Virtualbox 2.1.4 three days ago and, ever since, my computer can't wake up from hibernation upon receiving requests on the NIC. I will uninstall Virtualbox today for diagnostic purposes.

I found that you don't have to uninstall VirtualBox. You can go into the properties of your Lan Connection. There you can uncheck the VirtualBox Host Interface Networking Driver. A work around but not a solution.

[Sasquatch]

Did you create a bug report yet? Check if one exists yet, so there won't be duplicate report.
By disabling the VB driver, you will lose the ability to use HIF on that interface. Keep that in mind.

[Troodon]

It's confirmed, after uninstalling VirtualBox 2.1.4 the NIC on my Vista Home Premium machine can wake up the system from sleep again. Disabling the VirtualBox Host Interface Networking Driver would be no fun, I need to be able to update Ubuntu in VB.

[Sasquatch]

You can update your Guest using NAT networking too. HIF isn't a vital part for internet in the Guest.

[Troodon]

The issue is still there in VB 3.0.6 32-bit. Disabling the virtual VB network adapter doesn't help. Installing VB w/o networking appears to "fix" it.

[OffColour]

This is also an issue in the other direction.
Windows 7 64-bit with VB 3.1 installed. Magic packets from this machine are only received by the local "Virtual Box Host Only Network" connection. When disabled this allows the packets off the local machine and onto the wider network. Tested using Wake on Lan Monitor.

[ncnmra]

THANK YOU! This thread saved me a lot of aggravation. I just found this forum after three days of fighting with this issue. I use WOL sporadically, so it wasn't until about a month after I installed VirtualBox that I realized that WOL wasn't working. What is dumbfounding is that it wouldn't work from the typical WOL applications (mc-wol, Depicus), but it *DID* work from my DD-WRT router.

Looking at the wireshark capture, it appears that the DD-WRT sends raw IP data on the wire (ie: not a UDP packet), whereas the applications all send UDP packets to port 9. For some reason, WOL stops working under Vista with the VirtualBox network driver installed. Incidentally, DISABLING the driver in device manger did NOT fix the issue, however disabling it from the properties of the Local Area Connection (as suggested by sweetpapa) made it work.

In Summary, with the VirtualBox driver installed:
-CAN WOL from S3, only via DD-WRT
-CAN WOL from S5 (system powered down) (using Depicus (UDP packet) or DD-WRT)
-CANNOT WOL from S3 with wol UDP packet (as generated by Python script or Depicus), even though wireshark sees it

With VirtualBox driver installed but disabled under Local Area Connection properties
-CAN WOL from S3 with wol UDP packet (as generated by Python script or Depicus)

To add: I'm using VirtualBox version 3.1.6r59338

[swgertsch]

I am having the same problem with 3.2.8 Windows 7-64bit host and WinXP-sp3 guest. WOL program stopped working on host OS but does work on guest OS.

Disabled "VirtualBox Host-Only Network" network driver on host and WOL began to work again from host.

Question: With the "VirtualBox Host-Only Network" adapter disabled why does guest OS LAN still function? (Note: I did have to change VM network adapter setting from default "NAT" to attached to "Bridged Adapter" to see other Windows hosts in my LAN.)

[Sasquatch]

Please read chapter 6 - Virtual Networking for the answer. It's pointless to repeat what's in the manual.

[Ponozka]

THANK YOU! This thread saved me a lot of aggravation - I found this topic after two days of troubleshooting.

My simple work arround on Windows XP SP3 host and VBox 2.0.6:
I spend 5$ and installed a second network card for the VBox network bridge.
Now I can wake up my host PC with the buildin NIC.

[DanMan32]

Problem still exists. I just came across this product playing around with GNS3, where I downloaded it and installed it a few days ago. I left it alone for a while while it did some SP installs on the guest box, where eventually the host went to sleep as I expect it to do. I tried waking it from my parent's house via Wake-on-Lan by RDP request. No go. I thought the host locked up or got stuck booting off of the CD I still had in the drive to load the OS to the guest. PC was just fine booting up with a keysstroke.

After much troubleshooting and web research, I figured out it was the bridge driver for the VBox on the Realtek interface. Unchecked it from the stack where then I had full Wake-on-Lan again.
I tried updating the driver from Realtek's site (Asus didn't have it), completely pulling power, deleting the driver and redetecting, disabling and re-enablng the NIC in the BIOS (almost thougth I had it there), a few other suggestions found on the web for WOL issues with RealTek.

Vista x32 premium, I5 Intel processor, Asus P8P67LE with Realtek® 8111E , 1 x Gigabit LAN Controller, 8GB ram (only 4GB currently usable in Vista)

I wish I had found this thread earlier when I was researching. It would have saved me hours of trouble.

Yes, I know I can't have bridging from guest to NIC without the service connected to the NIC, but I'll just enable it when I need it. What I may do is bridge it with Windows bridging to Host Only interface.

Yes, I will put in a bug report as soon as my sign-up is finished being processed.