Host-Only Adapter interferes with Windows Remote Assistance.

[MPerz]

I occasionally use Windows Remote Assistance to support some family members with various PC issues and have noticed that the VirtualBox Host-Only Adapter seems to interfere with WRA's ability to reach the Internet. If I disable the adapter before a session it works fine, but I'd like to find a more streamlined solution. So far I've tried adding the *NdisDeviceType (1) DWORD to the appropriate registry hive with no luck. Doing so resolves the "unknown network" association with the adapter, but WRA access is still blocked (presumably by the firewall) even after a host reboot. I've also looked into adding a gateway to the adapter's TCP/IP settings, but the adapter resides on a separate subnet which has left me stumped as to what address I should assign. This isn't a terribly pressing issue, but I'd nevertheless be most appreciative to anyone that might lend me some clues here. Please let me know what additional info might be needed. This is a Windows 8 machine on a wired LAN, by the way.

[noteirak]

What is the IP config on the host-only?

[MPerz]

Host-Only IP address is 192.168.56.1.

[noteirak]

I meant the whole IP config of the interface

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ipconfig /all

[MPerz]

Oops, sorry about that. I've got to slow down and read more carefully.

Ethernet adapter VirtualBox Host-Only Network:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 08-00-27-00-88-8B
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::e516:834a:e3ae:da23%27(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.1(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 436731943
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-17-A2-59-1F-00-1E-4F-B6-1C-7A

[noteirak]

Ok so this is the correct config. Don't add any gateway or you'll break networking on the machine. I am under the impression WRA simply use the wrong interface to send its invitation, but that would be weird for it to especially select an interface.
Could you show me the routing table?

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route print

[MPerz]

Edit: It didn't grab the adapter config the first time for some reason, even though it was enabled. The output below should be complete.

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Microsoft Windows [Version 6.2.9200]
(c) 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\_______>route print
===========================================================================
Interface List
 20...00 02 76 2a c3 74 ......Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
 12...00 1e 4f b6 1c 7a ......Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller
 27...08 00 27 00 88 8b ......VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
  1...........................Software Loopback Interface 1
 14...00 00 00 00 00 00 00 e0 Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
 16...00 00 00 00 00 00 00 e0 Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
 17...00 00 00 00 00 00 00 e0 Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #3
===========================================================================

IPv4 Route Table
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination        Netmask          Gateway       Interface  Metric
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0      192.168.1.1    192.168.1.115    266
        127.0.0.0        255.0.0.0         On-link         127.0.0.1    306
        127.0.0.1  255.255.255.255         On-link         127.0.0.1    306
  127.255.255.255  255.255.255.255         On-link         127.0.0.1    306
      192.168.1.0    255.255.255.0         On-link     192.168.1.115    266
    192.168.1.115  255.255.255.255         On-link     192.168.1.115    266
    192.168.1.255  255.255.255.255         On-link     192.168.1.115    266
     192.168.56.0    255.255.255.0         On-link      192.168.56.1    276
     192.168.56.1  255.255.255.255         On-link      192.168.56.1    276
   192.168.56.255  255.255.255.255         On-link      192.168.56.1    276
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0         On-link         127.0.0.1    306
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0         On-link     192.168.1.115    266
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0         On-link      192.168.56.1    276
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255         On-link         127.0.0.1    306
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255         On-link     192.168.1.115    266
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255         On-link      192.168.56.1    276
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
  Network Address          Netmask  Gateway Address  Metric
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0      192.168.1.1  Default
===========================================================================

IPv6 Route Table
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
 If Metric Network Destination      Gateway
 12    266 ::/0                     fe80::22aa:4bff:fe4b:c496
  1    306 ::1/128                  On-link
 14    306 2001::/32                On-link
 14    306 2001:0:9d38:953c:14b2:116d:bc5d:e7cd/128
                                    On-link
 12    266 2601:d:c280:12::/64      On-link
 12     26 2601:d:c280:12::/64      fe80::22aa:4bff:fe4b:c496
 12    266 2601:d:c280:12:11d:80b4:4917:fc88/128
                                    On-link
 12    266 2601:d:c280:12:bd54:7170:247:ed64/128
                                    On-link
 12    266 fe80::/64                On-link
 14    306 fe80::/64                On-link
 27    276 fe80::/64                On-link
 12    266 fe80::11d:80b4:4917:fc88/128
                                    On-link
 14    306 fe80::14b2:116d:bc5d:e7cd/128
                                    On-link
 27    276 fe80::e516:834a:e3ae:da23/128
                                    On-link
  1    306 ff00::/8                 On-link
 14    306 ff00::/8                 On-link
 12    266 ff00::/8                 On-link
 27    276 ff00::/8                 On-link
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
  None

[noteirak]

Nothing wrong network wize, looks like WRA is the one playing stupid. Next stop would be some packet sniffing to see what it is sending and where...

[MPerz]

Ugh. That's kind of what I figured. Thanks for taking the time to check this out and reply. If I find anything I'll definitely post back, but for now this one is headed to the back burner.