VMWare-Player downward compatibility

This happens to me too. I did the following:

1. I find the network adapter on the host which VMware Player is using (in Network Connections). In my case, it is named VMware Network Adapter VMnet8.

2. Right-click on it then select Disable. I then wait for the Guest OS to report 'cable unplugged' from its taskbar (my guest is WinXP).

3. Back in the host, right-click on the same adapter the select Enable. Wait for the guest taskbar no-connection icon to switch to the getting-an-ip-address animation, then after the IP address is allocated, test the connection.

My web access is restored with this method.

I had the same problem, turns out that it was the hcmon driver. It was already installed, I tried to remove it and then it all worked like a charm.

Manually remove the hcmon.sys driver:

1. Right-click My Computer and click Manage.
2. Click Device Manager.
3. Click View > Show hidden devices.
4. Double-click Non-Plug and Play Drivers
5. Right-click hcmon and click Uninstall.
6. Delete the C:\Windows\system32\drivers\hcmon.sys file.
7. Restart the computer