virtualbox.org

Hello,

Bridged networking seems broken in my setup, while NAT does work.

During Debian install on the guest vm, I see that the installer identified the host's ethernet interface (visible in VBbox.log), but after a short while I get a message "Network autoconfiguration failed. Your network is probably not using the DHCP protocol. Alternatively, the DHCP server may be slow or some network hardware is not working properly" (I obviously have DHCP service on a healthy network)

I am not sure how to continue my troubleshooting. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

My setup

• New Intel NUC 11 TNKi5 (with a 2.5Gbps Ethernet connection)
  Host Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS Server
  Ubuntu Virtualbox distribution
  Guest vm: Debien or Ubuntu server

If you're using Wi-Fi, then Bridged doesn't always work on Wi-Fi, see Virtualbox Networks: In Pictures: Bridged Adapter Try a static IP address in the VM.

If you are using wired Ethernet, then when the error message happens, please run these commands in a host Command Prompt and post the text of the output:

cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox"
vboxmanage list bridgedifs

Scott, I am using the wired Ethernet, not the WiFi. Here is the output from "vboxmanage list bridgedifs"

Name: enp88s0
GUID: 38706e65-7338-4030-8000-54b2039f3b9b
DHCP: Disabled
IPAddress: 172.xx.88.139
NetworkMask: 255.255.255.0
IPV6Address:
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 0
HardwareAddress: 54:b2:03:9f:3b:9b
MediumType: Ethernet
Wireless: No
Status: Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-enp88s0

Name: wlo1
GUID: 316f6c77-0000-4000-8000-e8f40815dd12
DHCP: Disabled
IPAddress: 172.xx.88.141
NetworkMask: 255.255.255.0
IPV6Address: fe80::9248:e439bef
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: e8:f4:08:15:dd:12
MediumType: Ethernet
Wireless: Yes
Status: Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-wlo1

I didn't notice you're on a Linux host. The CD command wasn't necessary, sorry.

Please right-click the VM in the main Virtualbox window's VM list, choose "Show in Explorer/Finder/File Manager". In the window that opens, zip the VM's .vbox file, and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab. (Please make sure all file extensions are shown, so you will be able to see the .vbox extension easier.)

Was the 'list bridgedifs' run during while the VM's Debian installer was complaining of lack of network?

Something odd about the IPv4 addresses in the command output:

alonjr wrote:Name: enp88s0
IPAddress: 172.xx.88.139
Name: wlo1
IPAddress: 172.xx.88.141

My Windows Virtualbox host doesn't obfuscate the second octet. Odd....

Scott, I've attached the vbox file.
The list bridgedifs is when running the debian installer.
The xx is me replacing to make it private , if it is important to know, the xx is 22
Will the VBox.log be helpful?

The vbox.log may help.

Does the installation fail because of this error? Can it be set to complete without having to download anything? Curious if the installed OS will also complain.

Do you have any other Bridged-to-enp88s0 VMs you can have running while the Debian is installing, to check if the other VM also loses network? Trying to see if it's an inside-Debian problem or a Virtualbox/host problem.

One other thing, don't obfuscate unless you tell us you're obfuscating first. It is not polite. Intentionally damaging the data you give us then letting us discover and waste our time trying to understand what happened is nowhere at all cool. Last and only warning.

Scott,

Debian installation completes well. it boots without networking.
Similar issues with ubuntu 18.04 guest OS installation. it completes well and boots without networking.
There is only one VM running at any given time.

I've attached the VBox.log file

I took note of your etiqute comment. thanks.

The log doesn't show any problems that I see, network or otherwise. Does the VM's OS have networking now that it is installed?

If it does not, I'm puzzled as to what the problem could be.

Also, if another VM could be running Bridged while the failing VM shows network errors, whether the other VM has network errors at the same time would show if it's a host/Virtualbox or VM OS problem.

Issue solved. The Ethernet controller driver was at fault. I believe that the hardware I am using is new enough in the market that drivers are not yet updated in mainstream OS distributions. I arrived at this conclusion after experimenting with installing Ubuntu 21 and the latest Windows10 as guest OS. Both did not experience the issue that started this post. In contrast, Debian10 was worst of as it was not even able to get the wired or wifi interfaces to come up.
The solution I chose was to use Ununtu21.
Thank you Scott for spending time to troubleshoot the issue, I’ve learned a lot along the way.

Glad you're up and running!

alonjr wrote:Issue solved. The Ethernet controller driver was at fault. I believe that the hardware I am using is new enough in the market that drivers are not yet updated in mainstream OS distributions. I arrived at this conclusion after experimenting with installing Ubuntu 21 and the latest Windows10 as guest OS. Both did not experience the issue that started this post. In contrast, Debian10 was worst of as it was not even able to get the wired or wifi interfaces to come up.
The solution I chose was to use Ununtu21.
Thank you Scott for spending time to troubleshoot the issue, I’ve learned a lot along the way.

That's weird, if the driver was at fault, how would NAT networking work?

I am running Windows 10 Version 10.0.19042.1052 (20H2) and cannot connect in Windows or Linux guests in bridged mode at NAT works. I need to be able to access my Linux VMs Samba server...

I would have this issue in the past, but after restarting the host things would work as expected. I tried restarting the host and guest to no avail...

Bridged interacts with the network card through a Virtualbox driver, but NAT & NAT Network don't. You can install Virtualbox without Bridged, and still get NAT and NAT Network.

Please start a new topic with your problem and a vbox.log