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I'm running the Win7+IE8 tester VM from Microsoft (installed using the ievms script) on OSX Snow Leopard, and I'm unable to access the host over the network. I am using all the default settings that come with the VM, but pinging the host doesn't work, even though the DNS does resolve to an IP.

I can browse to Google and other places on the Internet just fine; but when I attempt to load the host system's apache-served webpage, I get no connection. The strange thing is that my older Windows XP VM, using the same network settings, can access the host just fine. Both are Using NAT networking, both have the latest VirtualBox Guest Additions installed. The only difference is that the failing VM uses the Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop adapter, while the Windows XP VM is using the PCnet-FAST III adapter. I would use the FAST III on the Win7 VM, but there don't appear to be any Windows 7 drivers for that adapter, and the reverse is true of the Windows XP VM.

Has anyone experienced this problem before? Got any advice?

NAT will not be able to talk to the host. Bridged will if there is a router in the network or else add a second adapter in the guest settings set to use host-only.

Perryg wrote:NAT will not be able to talk to the host. Bridged will if there is a router in the network or else add a second adapter in the guest settings set to use host-only.

OK, I didn't fully understand what you meant by this, but I tried setting my main adapter to bridged and adding a second adapter, set to host-only. Unfotunately, that didn't fix the problem. Is there some other specific settings I should apply to make this work?

Also, why does NAT not work? I have a broadband router at home that is my network's NAT host, and I can access it's webserver for setting the configuration. What's different about how my VM's NAT is set up?

If you have a router/DHCP server on your LAN, bridged mode should work. The vm should behave like another machine on the network and get its config from DHCP.

The NAT setting in VirtualBox is different. The guest gets its config from NAT in the host (ie the guest is behind NAT running on the host, quite separate from NAT on your DHCP device).

If bridged networking works as above you do not need the host only adapter. The host and guest are in the same network and can communicate directly. You need the host only link to communicate between host ans guest if you are using the NAT option.