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Use 1 network card for 2 VMs?

Posted: 6. Oct 2008, 02:45
by ridergroov1
Hi folks. I'm trying to find out if I need to have 1 physical network card to set to bridge with a virtual interface per virtual machine. When I try to attach 2 VMs to one, I get an error when starting the next VM. Any help appreciated. Thanks!

Posted: 6. Oct 2008, 16:06
by Dest
you need to create 1 virtual interface PER running virtual machine.

Posted: 6. Oct 2008, 21:58
by Sasquatch
You need a separate HIF if you run Guest systems simultaneous. Only if you run one at a time, you can share the interface.

Posted: 7. Oct 2008, 18:29
by ridergroov1
Well I know that you have to add a seperate host interface for each virtual machine but you can only bridge one real nic with one host interface correct?

Posted: 7. Oct 2008, 19:01
by dmcgraw
It would help if we knew some more details.

VB Version
Host O/S
Guest O/S
NIC

Posted: 7. Oct 2008, 19:07
by Dest
No.. you can add as many interfaces to your bridge as you want. I currently have 5 in mine - 1 legit, 4 HIF

After you add more HIF's, just right click on them and select "Add to bridge"

Posted: 8. Oct 2008, 18:32
by ridergroov1
Is there a reason that bridging would be grayed out? Having that problem now on a different machine. thanks!

Posted: 8. Oct 2008, 18:47
by Dest
bridging is gray'd out if you only have 1 network card selected... you have to select 2 or more to create a bridge.

But once you have created the bridge you should be able to right click on a given nic and say "Add to Bridge"

Posted: 9. Oct 2008, 00:05
by ridergroov1
Right and I do have 2 network cards select but they will not bridge. It's still grayed out.

Posted: 9. Oct 2008, 00:20
by Sasquatch
ridergroov1 wrote:Right and I do have 2 network cards select but they will not bridge. It's still grayed out.
Vista Host by any chance? If so, run the network center with Administrator privileges, or disable UAC, reboot and bridge them. You can re-enable UAC afterwards.

Posted: 9. Oct 2008, 02:34
by ridergroov1
Nope. I have Vista working fine as host with bridging. Another XP box I have will not bridge.

Posted: 9. Oct 2008, 22:05
by Sasquatch
ridergroov1 wrote:Nope. I have Vista working fine as host with bridging. Another XP box I have will not bridge.
Any policies set by chance? You might not know about it, but you can always check in the registry editor to see if there are any policies set (there are 4 locations where they can be, in HKCU/HKLM\Software\policies and \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies).

Is XP home actually able to create a bridge? I can't find it with a quick google search. I do know that Home has a lot of additional network support stripped/removed/left out compared to XP Pro.

Posted: 10. Oct 2008, 22:56
by ridergroov1
No XP home. XP Pro for both.

Posted: 11. Oct 2008, 11:25
by mpack
Sasquatch wrote: Is XP home actually able to create a bridge?
Yes, bridging is possible on XP Home - I've done it on my home PC (WinXP Home Edition SP2).

Posted: 11. Oct 2008, 13:25
by Sasquatch
mpack wrote:
Sasquatch wrote: Is XP home actually able to create a bridge?
Yes, bridging is possible on XP Home - I've done it on my home PC (WinXP Home Edition SP2).
Thanks for the info. As I don't have and use XP Home, I didn't know if they kept that function or not.