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Hi - networking issues have always been the bane of my existence so after tapping into various online self-help resources with more confusion than answers I decided to reach out for some help.

I recently starting using VB - running on Win 8.1 with Linux Mint Mate guest. A pure noob. Under normal install the NAT adapter is used. I run vpn on host and guest for different external IP and all works fine except for the slow speed on the guest due to the double VPN. To increase the guest speed I decided to try the Bridge mode for a direct connection to the public.

My original understanding was that I needed to bridge the VirtualBox Host-Only Network (which is installed with VB) to the modem / ethernet source. What I have observed however is that I don’t need to bridge anything all I need to do is change NAT to Bridged Adapter and select my modem / ethernet in the drop down Name field and I get a direct connection to outside world bypassing host – I know this cause I see my guest vpn connect direct without going thru the host vpn server and my guest speeds quadruple. Doing so gives me direct access to modem / outside internet without manually creating a bridge. I am trying to get some clarification on what it is I don’t understand.

After reviewing some VB literature and other resources I went to the adapters where I have the following 1) modem 2) ethernet 3) VirtualBox Host-Only Network 4) vpn tap adapter 5) other tap adapters.

First I turned off all vpns to eliminate that variable.

My understanding is that for the guest to connect directly to the outside world I am supposed to highlight 1) the internet connection - either modem / ethernet or both, and 2) VirtualBox Host-Only Network; then right click and bridge them together. Upon doing this another adapter is created - “Network Bridge” / MS Network adapter Multiplex Driver. After rebooting the “Network Bridge” shows “internet access” but the modem/ethernet as well as the VirtualBox Host-Only Network do not say connected they simply indicate - Enabled, Bridged

The host is still able to connect to internet. VPN will not work it gives me a tunneling error despite me having local network access enabled on the vpn client this could be a fault in the vpn client I am not sure yet.

Opening VB manager I change NAT to Bridged and the modem / ethernet are no longer options in the Name field instead I choose the new Network Bridge / MS Network adapter Multiplex Driver. I launch the VM but can not get any internet connection. Went to Network and changed back to NAT and I connect. Change back to “Network Bridge” and no connection. Reboot. Enable / Disable network access. Nothing.

So whats the purpose here? What is the Network Bridge supposed to do if it wont allow internet? I did right click on the Network Bridge adapter for properties and in the bottom half where it says “This connection uses the following items” the only one not checked is “MS Network Adapter Multiplex Protocol” makes me think this needs to be selected? But if I select that and click save it gives me a message stating the exact opposite – “Your selection will DISABLE the MS Network Adapter Multiplex Protocol” – the one I just checked to enable. So confused.

So whats the purpose of the bridging when I can reach the internet directly from the VM by just choosing modem/ethernet in the Bridged Adapter setting? And why doesn’t the Network Bridge / MS Network adapter Multiplex Driver want to connect inside the VM?

For reference – I enabled shared folders / clipboard just to see if they both work in Bridged mode as they do in NAT and they do as well. Just not understanding what I don’t understand. Thanks for reading.

Some of those tutorials are confusing you. Virtualbox's Host-Only network never gets 'bridged' to anything. Virtualbox's Bridged allows your guest to be another computer on the host's LAN same as the host is.

See Virtualbox Networks: In Pictures

In normal usage, there are no extra requirements of 'host-OS-provided-bridging' for Virtualbox networks to work.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask them here on the forum. Also try to get an idea of the connectivity you want the guest to have. You might have to remove some of your present setup and configure a different way once we find out where you want to be.

Thanks you for the reply.

Just as I suspected I was overthinking the process based on the readings that had me all upside down.

If I understand then the the Bridged option is if I have another network in addition to the host network and the bridge would allow the guest to be part of that network as well. Funny i didn't get that message at all from what I read but it does make sense. The pics are helpful.

My goal at this time is simply for the guest to have its open external IP without the speed loss so bypassing NAT and using bridge/ethernet adapter seems to be what I need. I understand there is a security risk as well so I turned on the VM firewall and disabled all sharing.

Thanks again.

Time it. In reality, the networking code often produces results very different to what you'd expect: the parav driver, for example, is NOT the fastest one, even though it should easily be so.

As far as Bridged goes, that's been broken on (at least) Linux guests for about ?4 years? now, and if you ever suspend the host the guest VM will lose connectivity permanently until you either restart it or change the network to something else and back. (Maybe it's fixed in 6.1 - I haven't tested it, but the ticket's still open).

Search for my post on network device speeds. Those were done with NAT, and they're well above what you probably need for a typical home user. (I don't remember the details, but it was at least 600mbps on what is now very mediocre hardware).

gl