Change the Subnet of VMWare Network Interfaces

If you install VMWare Player or Workstation the installer searches free subnets for the host-only network adapters vmnet1 and vmnet8.

Sometimes this isn’t compatible with networks at other locations. Like Wifis, VPN connections or the networks at your work place. You can change this subnets if you want.

On Linux open “/etc/vmware/networking” and change the “VNET_1_HOSTONLY_SUBNET” and “VNET_8_HOSTONLY_SUBNET” if you want. Here is an example of this file:

VERSION=1,0
answer VNET_1_DHCP yes
answer VNET_1_DHCP_CFG_HASH F4271DEE0A19D25CA9881B21350AFDDE4210ECD7
answer VNET_1_HOSTONLY_NETMASK 255.255.255.0
answer VNET_1_HOSTONLY_SUBNET 192.168.93.0
answer VNET_1_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER yes
answer VNET_8_DHCP yes
answer VNET_8_DHCP_CFG_HASH DB7680D1746D9B9D3502F187E703B8FF703A3A1D
answer VNET_8_HOSTONLY_NETMASK 255.255.255.0
answer VNET_8_HOSTONLY_SUBNET 192.168.94.0
answer VNET_8_NAT yes
answer VNET_8_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER yes

Now change the settings for the DHCP-Server:

Edit “/etc/vmware/vmnet1/dhcpd/dhcpd.conf” or “/etc/vmware/vmnet8/dhcpd/dhcpd.conf” for vmnet8:

allow unknown-clients;
default-lease-time 1800;                # default is 30 minutes
max-lease-time 7200;                    # default is 2 hours

subnet 192.168.93.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
        range 192.168.93.128 192.168.93.254;
        option broadcast-address 192.168.93.255;
        option domain-name-servers 192.168.93.0.1;
        option domain-name localdomain;
        default-lease-time 1800;                # default is 30 minutes
        max-lease-time 7200;                    # default is 2 hours
}
host vmnet1 {
        hardware ethernet 00:50:56:C0:00:01;
        fixed-address 192.168.93.1;
        option domain-name-servers 0.0.0.0;
        option domain-name "";

After any changes restart vmware.

/etc/init.d/vmware restart

Other OS:

MacOS:

DHCP File “/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet*/dhcpd.conf”
Network Config “/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/locations”

Windows:

cd c:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Player 
rundll32.exe vmnetui.dll VMNetUI_ShowStandalone 

You will see the same confiuration window as in VMWare Workstation.

Links:
* http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/ws_net_advanced_ipaddress.html
* http://blog.xsteam.eu/dasblog/2008/09/24/VMwareFusionNetzwerkkonfiguration%C3%84ndern.aspx
* http://www.thomasvachon.com/2011/09/14/adding-vmnets-in-vmware-fusion-4/
* http://gibbix.ch/page/index.php?title=Den_VMWare_Player_konfigurieren
* http://www.tobias-hartmann.net/2011/08/virtual-network-editor-fur-vmware-player-einrichten/