Networking – VirtualBox bridged adapter not installing on Windows 7 host

networkingvirtualbox

After installing VirtualBox 4.1.8r75467 on a Windows 7 64 bit host, the bridge adapter doesn't appear to have been installed. It doesn't show in device manager, and in VB, changing Settings > Network > Attached To to Bridged Adaptor shows only Not Selected in the Name dropdown. No error message during install, and yes I did confirm during the installation.

Things I've tried:

Using installer to repair the install
Complete uninstall and reinstall
Reinstall in safe mode
Reinstall with UAC and anti-virus (Kaspersky) disabled
As recommended in an older issue here, tried to delete this file, but was denied access, even in safe mode: %SystemRoot%\System32\DriverStore\INFCACHE.1

This is a blocking issue, and I'm out of things to try. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Best Answer

This response here about the MaxNumFilters registry value fixed the problem for me:

Resolved my issue not sure if it resolves the issue for others, my Windows 7 had run out of network filters, changing the registry entry for network filers form 8 to 14 allowed the bridging to the adapters to show

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\MaxNumFilters

I saw a lot of entries in device manager when I showed the hidden ones, so I set the max limit to 24, and the install appears to have worked.

Related Solutions

VirtualBox – bridged adapter settings fail in Windows 7 host

The thread Bridged Adapter problem suggests that the problem is the network MaxNumFilters limit in Windows.

By default, the MaxNumFilters value is 8. You can change it up to 14, using regedit in this location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network, value of MaxNumFilters.

Note: If you don't see MaxNumFilters, you can create it with the Type of REG_DWORD as shown below :

If after this change you still have the problem, then while leaving the value of MaxNumFilters as 14, uninstall VirtualBox, reboot, then reinstall it.

Mac – VirtualBox – VM with bridged adapter can’t access internet while host can

You currently have a sort-of useless network configuration:

Wi-Fi -----+
           +- Bridge (visible in Windows) -+
Host-only -+                               +- Bridge (invisible, managed by VirtualBox)
              Virtual machine -------------+

...where the Host-only network adapter isn’t really connected to anything. So first, delete the bridge that’s visible in this screenshot:

Then, go to the virtual machine settings again and select your WiFi adapter in the “Name:” dropdown:

Then, it may work. If VirtualBox is bridged to the bridge (heh), it cannot know the traffic is going over the air.

Why does it not work regularly? The OpenWrt wiki has a great page on client mode wireless with pictures and whatnot:

Problem using standard client mode

The 802.11 standard only uses three MAC addresses for frames transmitted between the Access Point and the Station. Frames transmitted from the Station to the AP don't include the ethernet source MAC of the requesting host and response frames are missing the destination ethernet MAC to address the target host behind the client bridge.

Bridged Host sends a packet to the Target host

Frame is relayed via the W-LAN Client and the MAC address of the transmitting wireless adapter is used as source MAC, the sending ethernet MAC is discarded

W-LAN AP receives the frame and redirects it to the Target

Target receives the frame and generates a response

Target responds to the received frame using the (wrong) source MAC as destination

W-LAN AP relays the frame to the W-LAN Client with the given destination MAC

W-LAN Client receives the frame and assumes it is the final destination since it's wireless MAC is used in the frame, the packet is not forwarded

Bridged Host never sees a response frame since the W-LAN Client became the destination, no connection is possible

Best Answer

Related Solutions

VirtualBox – bridged adapter settings fail in Windows 7 host

Mac – VirtualBox – VM with bridged adapter can’t access internet while host can

Problem using standard client mode

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