[Solved] Host internet stops working after VBox installed

noyb · Post by **noyb** » 17. Jan 2009, 01:54

Hi guys,

I have just moved over to VB from VMware and so far like what I see.

I have an Arch Linux machine which had host internet access via ethernet working fine. I haven't got around to configuring the wireless card yet.

After installing VirtualBox I built a VM and installed a Windows XP guest. I used the default PC NET Fast III NAT adapter and could update my Windows guest online no problem. When I next rebooted the host however all internet connectivity on the host itself had been lost. I have a triple boot and the connection works fine on the same machine under Ubuntu and Vista. I have even tried uninstalling VB but I still don't have internet access and I am loathe to rebuild my Arch host as this is no trivial matter.
I can't understand what has changed that would cause the internet to work before the 1st host reboot but not thereafter. I've googled this problem and I've come across a couple of similar cases but with no successful resolution.

I really want to use VirtualBox as the VMware VMs I was running were too slow on Linux.

I would really appreciate any help and insights.

I am a Linux newbie so I don't know what information is needed but please ask me and I will provide it. Thank you for your help.

noyb · Post by **noyb** » 17. Jan 2009, 08:03

OK,

I managed to get it working again but still not sure why the internet connection stopped working and I'm convinced that it's a result of the VBox installation.

Just in case anyone else has the same problem my solution may not be reproducible. I noticed that the network failed to start. Tried to start network manually but it failed.
Disconnect ethernet cable.
Wait a bit.
Reconnect cable.
Wait a bit for the cable to be detected.
/etc/rc.d/network start
This time it worked and remained working between reboots.