Virtual Machine network disconnect intermittently for E1000 adapter

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Virtual Machine network disconnects intermittently for the E1000 adapter
• Issue is observed for VMs running the Windows version released in or after 2012 including Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Cause

This issue occurs because the E1000 adapter is not supported by Microsoft Windows OS that was released in 2012 or later

• Win8.x (8.0 and later)
• Windows 2012
• Windows 2012 R2 and later

E1000 adapter is based on the Intel Pro/1000 MT adapter which is also not supported by Intel anymore.

Resolution

Check the compatibility guide using the following link and use the network adapter supported with the respective Guest OS:

https://compatibilityguide.broadcom.com/