Selecteer een pagina

[FIX] Restore Default Gateway connection in virtual Windows Server network

door

Context

  • VMware Workstation 16 Pro 16.2.1 build-18811642
  • Windows Server 2019 version 1809 build 17763.615
  • Installed server roles: AD DS, DNS, DHCP, Routing and Remote Access

Problem

When importing a new virtual machine in VMware Workstation based on an existing virtual hard disk file (.vmdk) it could occur that the network settings stop working correctly and that the Routing and Remote Access role doesn’t work any longer. This results in clients not able to connect to the internet although the Default Gateway (the router’s IP address) is set correctly.

Cause

When creating a new virtual machine based on an existing vmdk file one first create an empty virtual machine, including a new network adapter. This new network adapter gets a unique identifier.

The imported system already hosted one or more network adapters – with its unique identifier – that are stored in the register but are now hidden in the new virtual machine. In other words, the system thinks that the old adapters still exists.

Solution

There are probably more suitable solutions to solve this problem. The one that worked for me is based on editing some registry settings

WARNING: changing settings in the registry could corrupt your system if you’re not sure what you’re doing.

The following registry key contain information about all (hidden) network adapters on a Windows Server 2019 system:

  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services
  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Adapters
  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces

In these containers every network adapter has its own entry with its unique identifier. See image.

One should inspect all adapters and look for the old network settings like IP address, Default Gateway and Name Servers.

Once you’re sure that you’ve found one of more adapters with the network settings of the original virtual machine that adapter should be removed these 3 containers:

  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services
  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Adapters
  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces

In my case this did the trick. As soon as the old adapters were removed all client in my network were able to connect to the router’s IP address (Default Gateway) and thus could connect to the internet again.