NAT networking stopped working following Virtualbox upgrade

[Steve333]

Hi there,

I recently upgraded to Virtualbox 4.3.20 r96997. When I started my virtual machine the box was unable to connect to the internet. (The same thing has happened for all my virtual machines.)

I no longer have the Host-Only Adapter in my list of adapters on my guest machine so that's probably the reason why it cannot connect.

When I troubleshoot the lack of internet Windows reports that "The DNS server isn't responding".

Does anyone know how I can get this working again? Any advice would be gratefully received as I'm pretty stuffed if my machines can't connect to the internet as I do all my development work on them.

Thanks in advance!

Steve.

[Steve333]

I can't post my ipconfig all trace because I need to be a member for a day. I'll update this tomorrow...

[socratis]

I no longer have the Host-Only Adapter in my list of adapters on my guest machine so that's probably the reason why it cannot connect.

You said that you use the NAT network, so that wouldn't be relevant. And Host-Only does not give you internet access.

The other possibility (which may indicate a more serious problem) is that you either didn't choose it during the installation, you didn't run the installer as administrator, or Windows silently rejected the drivers because they're not signed. Search for "windows disable driver signature verification". That wouldn't have installed the Bridged adapter as well, on which you may depend for your VM's internet access.

I can't post my ipconfig all trace because I need to be a member for a day.

You don't have to post your ipconfig on an external site, you can type it inline. It should be a few lines. Post the host's and guest's 'ipconfig' output. Please use the 'pre' or 'code' tags so that it's more readable...

[Steve333]

Not running the install as an admin sounds like a good shout. Let me try that first... (although I'm on Windows 8 so I figured elevated status would be granted anyway?)

[socratis]

I'm on Windows 8 so I figured elevated status would be granted anyway?

Since Windows 7 (if not since Vista), things have changed slightly on this area, even if your account has administrator rights. For example:

1. open "Command Prompt" from an administrator account => No UAC prompts. Try to run "sfc" => No dice.
2. right-click on that same icon and choose "Run as administrator" => UAC prompt. Try to run "sfc" => All is good.

And don't forget to search for "Windows 8 disable driver signature verification".

[Steve333]

So, I tried uninstalling the latest version and reinstalling using "Run as administrator" but I still had the same issue once the install was complete. I looked in the vbox files and noticed that I created them using 4.3.6. So, I uninstalled the latest version and installed 4.3.6 as an administrator and the network connections magically started working again. I don't have the time to try and work out what stopped it working in the new version so I think I'll just stick with 4.3.6. It's clearly some issue with the way the new version interacts with my host machine though.