An ugly VMWare Fusion error “/dev/vmnet0″ is not running
Just a note, I’ve moved this here.
A VMWare Fusion getcha (new word?) that I ran into tonight. So you don’t waste much time with it, here’s how to fix it. Don’t panic if you encounter an “the network bridge device on /dev/vmnet0 is not running” when trying to start your VMWare instance. It generally means a service didn’t start correctly when you booted your machine.
Don’t suspend your VM. Let your VM start. Go to a full screen view and shutdown the machine without logging on to a running instance. Shutdown VMWare Fusion. Now, you can reboot your Mac or you can run the following command from the /Library/Application Support/VMWare Fusion directory (options are --start, --stop, or --restart):
# sudo boot.sh -restart
After restarting the service, you shouldn’t have any problem launching VMWare Fusion. I don’t like the fact that you can’t abort the launch of the VM though. That’s got to be a bug!
Hi Michael,
Great tip! I’ve had that situation bite me a few times, and it certainly isn’t very well-documented. I wanted to point out, however, that your sudo command contains “–reboot” instead of –restart:
“Don’t suspend your VM. Let your VM start. Go to a full screen view and shutdown the machine without logging on to a running instance. Shutdown VMWare Fusion. Now, you can reboot your Mac or you can run the following command from the /Library/Application Support/VMWare Fusion directory (options are –start, –stop, or –restart):
# sudo boot.sh –reboot”
Here’s how it looks on my machine:
zathras:VMware Fusion jpiwowar$ ./boot.sh –reboot
Usage: ./boot.sh {–start|–stop|–restart}
Apologies for leaving a comment that mostly reduces to, “Whoa, dude! Typo!” I checked around for a way to email you privately, but couldn’t find an email link on your blog or on Oracle Community (might just be pre-coffee confusion on my part). :-)
Regards,
John P.
John P
September 10, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Thanks! I hate typos but make them too often. I’ve fixed it in the post.
maclochlainn
September 10, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Hi
I am having this same problem for long time now. i tried your tips but it didnt work for me.
1st i did this:
Don’t suspend your VM. Let your VM start. Go to a full screen view and shutdown the machine without logging on to a running instance. Shutdown VMWare Fusion. Now, you can reboot your Mac
Result: same error message /dev/vmneto is not running”
2nd I did this:
Instead of rstart the mac, i tried this
# sudo boot.sh –restart from the terminal windows from directory /Library/Application Support/VMWare Fusion but nothing happened.. then i tried ./boot.sh –restart i show some messages such as
VMware Fusion 62573: Shutting down VMware Fusion:
./boot.sh: line 215: kill: (90) – Operation not permitted
./boot.sh: line 215: kill: (90) – Operation not permitted
./boot.sh: line 215: kill: (74) – Operation not permitted
./boot.sh: line 215: kill: (74) – Operation not permitted
./boot.sh: line 215: kill: (85) – Operation not permitted
./boot.sh: line 215: kill: (85) – Operation not permitted
./boot.sh: line 215: kill: (82) – Operation not permitted
./boot.sh: line 215: kill: (82) – Operation not permitted
what should i do?
Hassan
September 23, 2008 at 10:47 am
That appears to be a call to this line:
kill -”$signal” “$pid”
I’d suggest that they might try a kill without prejudice, and you could kill with prejudice the NAT jobs. However, did you close VMWare with a Command+Q before attempting the command? If not, you should close the VMWare application, then run the restart command. Another alternative, you can reboot after shutting down the virtual machine before running the restart command.
If these don’t solve the problem let me know. I’ll modify the script to give you more diagnostic information.
maclochlainn
September 23, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I have windows vista and some one recomended to tourn off automatic bridging. so I try to untick it and it wont untick? then I uninstall the vmnnet0 from a copule of tabs over on the same control winow and try it and the check mark goes away this time. But when I try to hit ok an error window pops up and wont let me leave that sreen unless I put the check mark back.. So I closed it with the task manager and restatrted the virtual workstation and then the virtual machine and the tick mark is still there. I uninstalled the network adapter from the device manager on the host a nd rebooted the computer then opened up the the virtual machine and onistalled the dhcp and the tick mark was gone. I then reinstalled one vmnet0 adapter and chose vmnet0 host only instead of bridged connection and it just keeps searching andsearching for a network address.. VMWORK station has not been fully developed in the guest – internet department. what are they doing trying to make some fast cash?
Geron
November 22, 2008 at 10:03 pm
I believe you’re running into a Vista permission problem. I found you had to change security permissions before making certain changes, but don’t forget to change them back after you make the change. Vista can cause other errors when you leave permissions open between boot cycles.
It would be better to use the new blog because I don’t check this one too often anymore.
maclochlainn
January 8, 2009 at 5:38 am
Thank you.
Steps to fix the problem:
1) Search… search… search
2) try try try
3) Come here, follow what you wrote.
Should have skipped directly to #3
In the future, I will be reading what you have to say…..
Joe Mastromauro
March 16, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Thanks a lot for the tip, it did save me a lot of time!!!
Garf
March 23, 2009 at 11:31 am
Hi,
I thought it might be useful to mention that on my machine and in combination with VMWare Fusion 2.0.2, the following, slightly modified command worked:
sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/boot.sh –restart
Without the back slashes before the spaces it didn’t work for me, but this did the trick.
Regards,
Ariaan
Ariaan
March 31, 2009 at 3:55 am
Thanks a million for this tip! I was running around in circles as a result of my XP virtual machine’s inability to find my network. Thanks to a Goggle search on the error message, “The network bridge on device /dev/vmnet0 is not running,” I found your blog and did as you suggested: I quit Windows, closed VMWare Fusion, and rebooted its host, a MacBook Pro. Viola! When I opened up VMWare fusion and restarted XP, all was well again. Whew, what a relief.:)
Grey Satterfield
April 22, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Thank you, you saved me!
Alberto
May 21, 2009 at 2:53 pm
You rock.
Gary
June 25, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Thanks for posting this! Worked a treat for me!
Craig Campbell
July 1, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Thanks dude!! Worked for me.
Ed
September 14, 2009 at 8:36 pm
You have saved my life, upgraded to snow leopard at work and then couldn’t get VMware to work!
Thank you
Patsy
September 15, 2009 at 2:27 pm
There’s more stuff on the newer blog.
maclochlainn
September 15, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Updated contents are on the new blog because I couldn’t deal with code or instructions the way I wanted at WordPress.com.
maclochlainn
September 15, 2009 at 5:07 pm