This issue is resolved in ESXi 5.0 Patch 04, available at
VMware Downloads. For more information, see
VMware ESXi 5.0, Patch ESXi-5.0.0-20120904001-standard (2032591).
To work around this issue when you do not want to upgrade, change the Virtual Machine network adapter type to E1000.
To change the network adapter on a virtual machine:
- Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
- Click Add.
- Click Ethernet Adapter and click Next.
- In the Type field, select E1000.
- Select the desired Network Connection label.
- Select Connect at power and click Next.
- Click Finish, then click OK.
At this point, you may remove the old adapter and configure the new network adapter with your desired network settings:
- Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
- Click the original VMXNET3 network adapter.
- Make a note of the selected Network Connection label.
- Click Remove.
- Click on the new E1000 network adapter.
- Change the Network Connection label to the value you noted in step 3.
- Click OK.
Note: The virtual machine may require a reboot for the changes to take effect.
Note: This issue has been seen on Linux distributions that are using a VMXNET3 driver prior to version 1.1.28.0. This driver can be found in ESXi5.1GA, available at
VMware Downloads.