net-stats on ESXi shows VM's MAC address as 00:00:00:00:00:00

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• VM's reports network connectivity issues on ESXi

• net-stats on ESXi shows VM's MAC address as 00:00:00:00:00:00 

 

Environment

VMware vSphere 7.x
VMware vSphere 8.x

 

Cause

• When a virtual machine's network adapter is disabled within the guest operating system, the MAC address displayed in ESXi might show as 00:00:00:00:00:00 (all zeros).
  
  
• This is because the guest OS is not actively using the virtual network adapter, and the ESXi hypervisor doesn't have a MAC address associated with the inactive adapter. The ESXi host will not assign a specific MAC address to the virtual network adapter while it is disabled in the guest operating system and will use a reserved or default MAC address (like 00:00:00:00:00:00) for virtual adapters that are not connected or not active.  

Resolution

• The guest operating system manages the network interface's status (enabled/disabled).
  
  
• When disabled, the guest OS doesn't report any MAC address to the ESXi host. In the guest operating system, enable the virtual network adapter that will allow the guest OS to determine a MAC address, and that MAC address will be reported back to ESXi.