Guest Internet Access

[Capum130]

Hello!
Does VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter should exist, in ncpa.cpl, to be able to have internet access to a TinyCore Guest machine?
NAT and Bridge setup in this particular VM configuration doesn't turn guest network environment enabled, ADSL Router DHCP server is disabled, so configuring everything static doesn't seems to save / validate when closing the ethernet network dialog window, on this guest.

[Capum130]

Well, this is odd.
Is here the place for ask above writing, though?
Appreciate your help.

[socratis]

In order to better understand the problem you need to submit some more information. Please read the following: Minimum information needed for assistance. As far as the "VBox.log.zip" goes, here's what you do:

1. Start the VM. Not from a saved or suspended state. Clean start.
2. Take the steps required to generate/observe the error if any.
3. Shut down the VM (if it hasn't aborted by itself). Not suspended, not paused. Shut down. If you can't shut it down by normal means, close the VM window and select "Power off".
4. Right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager.
5. Select "Show Log..."
6. Save it, ZIP it and attach it in your response (see the "Upload attachment" at the bottom of the form).

On top of that, we'd like to see the "recipe" of the VM, the ".vbox" file:

1. Right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager.
2. Select "Show in Explorer".
3. ZIP the selected ".vbox" file and attach it in your response.

[Capum130]

There you are!
virtual box 5.0.18 r106667
no vbox GA.
Host Windows 7 32 bit, 2038 mib
Guest TinyCore 7.0 32 bit, 640 mib

Apart from the unavailability of guest network responsiveness, does it care to have the VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter entry in virtualbox preferences, network option?

[socratis]

OK, keep it simple and do not confuse the situation any further (like mentioning ncpa.cpl and host-only). Read about the different network modes. I'll use a slightly paraphrased short description of the network modes, courtesy of scottgus1 (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=76188#p354679):

• NAT and NAT Service are like the network routers you use to separate your house network from the internet. NAT gives each guest its own "router" so to speak, so each guest is separated from the others and the host. NAT service allows more than one guest to attach to the "router" and be in their own private network together. Internet connection is possible.
• Bridged puts each guest on the host's physical network, and the guests looks to the physical network just like other new PCs on the network. You'll need a home/office router that acts as a DHCP server as well. Traffic between all guests and PCs and the internet is possible.
• Internal is a private network between the guests connected to it. You can have more than one internal network by giving new names to your new internal networks. You assign the guests to the internal network using the network's name. Internet connection is NOT possible.
• Host-only is an internal network that also includes the host. More than one guest can be attached to one host-only network. Internet connection is NOT possible.

So, you need either Bridged or NAT. Since you stated that your router has DHCP disabled (why?), you need NAT (more information on the User Manual).

You have selected NAT, you get an IP address (10.0.2.15, correct) and you have assigned two DNS servers ( 172.21.164.33, 8.8.8.8 ). So why do you believe that you have no internet on your guest?

PS. I just downloaded TinyCore, tried it with NAT and it worked right out of the box.

[Capum130]

In Windows host vbox installation creates this new adapter on 'network connections' where all relate adapters are graphically shown. This can be seen running ncpa.cpl . My question is about if is necessary to keep this vbox host-only adapter existing, on window host? *It's is removable by going on vbox preferences.

Back to our TinyCore discussion: If you say guest IP address is correct, maybe dns is set wrong? Or NAT is wrong with DHCP off?
I turned off DHCP to add a step of protection/privacy to my network? Untill now, I didn't have complaints to it.

[socratis]

Can you please stop worrying about the Host-Only interface? If you want to use Host-Only network, yes, you need to keep it. If not, you can disable it, although I don't really understand why all the fuss about a fake adapter that's going nowhere. Just leave it there, it does no harm.

If you've selected NAT (which you have), it doesn't need a DHCP server. The DHCP client has to be enabled on the guest.

Bridged needs the DHCP server functionality from your home/office router, like any other physical machine. And the DHCP client in the guest.

Again I will ask you; why do you believe that you do not have internet access? What did you try? Did you try a basic 'ping'? A 'host -a' command? What exactly did you try?

[Capum130]

I tried to download and mess around with App Browser right at bottom bar, where one can open it. I tried to ping my ISP gateway or google.com, IIRC.
Had setup Bridge with static ip on network cpanel, and connection activates for a while, as seen on adsl interface, in the meantime it doesn't work, the apps listing in App Browser for example.

[Capum130]

socratis, did I answer your question?

[socratis]

I'm not that familiar with the internals of TinyCore. But here's something that you can try. Boot from the TinyCore CD (I tried booting from TinyCore-7.0.iso, TinyCore-7.1.iso, TinyCorePlus-7.0.iso and TinyCorePlus-7.1.iso). Open a terminal and give it the following commands:

   ifconfig
   ping 8.8.8.8
   ping http://www.google.com

• For the 'ifconfig' you should be getting:

   eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 08:00:27:9d:eb:65  
             inet addr:10.0.2.15  Bcast:10.0.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0 ...

• For the 'ping' commands they should both getting results like:

   ping 8.8.8.8
   PING 8.8.8.8 ( 8.8.8.8 ) 56(84) bytes of data.
   64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=63 time=129 ms
   64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=63 time=91.2 ms...

Now, if you do not get the same results when you boot your guest from its virtual HD, then you must have done something in your guest that has changed the network configuration. As I said, I don't know much about TinyCore and I don't feel the urge to go out and learn. You could try the TinyCore forums perhaps?

---

Just before I hit the submit button, I noticed the following, I don't know how I missed it:

Had setup Bridge with static ip on network cpanel, and connection activates for a while, as seen on adsl interface

That's not what your configuration said. It clearly said that you had enabled the 'NAT' mode. Unless you changed it at some point later on for testing purposes. Stick with NAT. If you used Bridged with a WiFi router, expect trouble.