NAT networking fails after a Fusion upgrade

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

After upgrading your version of Fusion:

• NAT networking no longer works
• Your virtual machine sees no network adapters connected
• Your virtual machine cannot access the internet

Environment

VMware Fusion 8.x
VMware Fusion Pro 10.x
VMware Fusion 5.x
VMware Fusion 6.x
VMware Fusion 7.x
VMware Fusion 4.x
VMware Fusion 11.x
VMware Fusion 10.x
VMware Fusion Pro 11.x
VMware Fusion Pro 8.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the networking configuration file is empty.

Resolution

To confirm this issue, verify that the networking configuration file is empty. To see the file:

1. Open Terminal. For more information, see Opening a command or shell prompt (1003892).
2. Run this command:
   
   cat /Library/Preferences/VMware\ Fusion/networking

If you see text after that command runs, you are experiencing a different issue. For more information, see Troubleshooting networking and internet connection issues in VMware Fusion (1016466).

If you see no output after that command runs, that means that the file is empty. The NAT networking files must be deleted and then re-created.

To delete and then re-create the networking files:

1. Quit VMware Fusion.
2. In Terminal, run these commands, pressing enter after each one:
   
   sudo rm -f "Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/networking"
sudo rm -f "Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/locations"
sudo "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmnet-cli -c"
   
   This reconfigures the default network settings for NAT.
    
3. (Optional) If you suspend or resuming a virtual machine while connecting to multiple networks:
    
   1. Open your .vmx file for editing. For more information, see Editing the .vmx file for your Fusion virtual machine (1014782).
   2. Add this line to the bottom of the file:
      
      vmnat.linkStatePropagation.disable = "FALSE"
      
      This helps the virtual machine look for a changed network state, whenever it is resumed.

Additional Information

Opening a command or shell prompt
Editing the .vmx file for your VMware Fusion virtual machine
Troubleshooting networking and internet connection issues in VMware Fusion