Can't connect to VM configured as host-only without network

[jtinatlanta]

Hello,

I'm new to VirtualBox and I'm trying to debug an issue I'm encountering. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to setup a standalone instance of PeopleSoft 9.2 CRM by importing a downloadable appliance that is available on the support site. I've installed VirtualBox and imported the appliance. I've also modified my hosts file on my Windows 8 machine by adding the ip address assigned to the VM I've created.

VirtualBox version - 5.0.2 r102906
Host OS - Windows 8.1
Host-Only Network Adapter
IPv4 Address - 192.168.56.1
IPv4 Network Mask - 255.255.255.0
DHCP Server Address - 192.168.56.100
DHCP Server Mask - 255.255.255.0
DHCP Lower Address Bound - 192.168.56.101
DHCP Upper Address Bound - 192.168.56.254

Virtual Machine Details
Client OS - Linux 64-bit
Adapter 1 Details
Enable Network Adapter - Yes
Attached to - Host-only Adapter
Name - VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
Adapter Type - PCnet-FAST III (Am79C973)
Promiscuous Mode - Deny
Cable connected - Yes

Also, on my laptop's hosts file, I added entry for the following IP address:
192.168.56.101

So what I'm experiencing is this:

1. My virtual machine appears to start up fine.
2. If I'm connected to my wireless network, I can connect to the login page on the host entry I added.
3. If I'm not connected to any network (wired or wireless), I cannot connect to the login page on the host entry I added. It tells me that it cannot connect since I'm not connected to the network.

I was under the impression that if the VM was setup as a host-only network, then I would not need to be connect to an actual network...wired or wireless. Am I missing something? I'd like to be able to use my VM when I'm travelling and have no network access...such as when I'm on a plane.

Thanks in advance for any help!

-JT

[BillG]

You should not need to add anything to the hosts file. The vm should get an IP from DHCP on the host and just work.

Does this happen? Do an ifconfig on the guest and post the results here if you can't see what is wrong.

[jtinatlanta]

Thanks for the response, BillG.

When running ipconfig, I do see an entry for it:

Ethernet adapter VirtualBox Host-Only Network:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::c45e:de9a:6f33:5e1f%31
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.1
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

The intent of adding an entry into the hosts file was just to make it easier to use. I can recall crm92dmo.ps.com better than the ip address.

What I'm trying to resolve is why the setup seems to still require some type of network connection, wired or wireless, for me to be able to access the virtualbox. Since it's running on my laptop and I'm trying to access it from my laptop, I don't understand why it doesn't work when it's configured as a host-only network.