VMPlayer Client DHCP failure with Bridged Wireless Host

[ewaller]

I am trying to set up VMplayer 3.0 set up as descibed in http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-819815-highlight-.html

I realize that is not a supported program, but I am encountering a problem I think is external to that program.

NAT networking from the guest works without problem.

I am having trouble with bridged networking. I cannot obtain a DHCP address from my wireless Broadcom 4312 interface on the host.

When I configure the bridging to use my wired network and all works well. When the wired host link comes up, the guest notices and obtains its own IP address. When I unplug the wired ethernet, the guest notices and takes its network dowm.

When I configure the bridge to use the Wireless network, I am sure I am associating with the correct interface. I believe this because, in this mode, it does not pay any attention to the plugged/unplugged state of the wired network and will not associate with it whether or not the wired network is up or down. At the same time, disabling the wireless link on the host does cause the guest to warn that a network cable has been unplugged. When the host wireless comes up, the guest takes note and tries (unsuccessfully) to obtain an IP address.

The guest OS is 32 bit Windows XP pro. The host is AMD64~ (64 bit core-2 DUO). uname -a:

Linux odin 2.6.33-gentoo #5 SMP Sat Feb 27 15:29:24 PST 2010 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T6400 @ 2.00GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

The Broadcom Wireless uses the B43 driver intrinsic to the kernel.

The wireless connection and the wired connection are both handled by the same Dlink DIR-615 router. There is nothing interesting in the router logs when attempting DHCP connection from the guest.

Any Ideas?
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Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday

[ewaller]

Replying to myself...

Well I had a bit of a Heisenberg moment last night.

While trying to debug this, I fired up wireshark to sniff packets. This caused the guest to immediately obtain an address and join the network. It was late, so I called it a night. My guess is that wireshark putting the nic into promiscuous mode did the trick. I kind of expected the Vmware script to set the nic up correctly.

Comments?
_________________
Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday