Why does my VM lose network connectivity randomly?

The following behaviors or symptoms may be seen:

• A VM's network connection may appear disconnected within the guest OS.
• Guest OS network settings may not show the local IP address and/or DNS suffix.
• The VM is not able to communicate over the network.
• Networking is restored if the VM is restarted or if the network interface is disabled and re-enabled.

There is a known connectivity issue with e1000 or e1000e network adapters

Intermittent network disconnects may be seen or experienced when using e1000 or e1000e network adapters. This is a known issue and the recommendation is to use the updated vmxnet3 adapter.

Change the adapter from e1000 to vmxnet3

To correct this issue, change the NIC from the e1000 adapter to the vmxnet3 adapter using the steps below.

1. Note any custom network settings that are applied to the network adapter, either in Skytap or within the guest OS.
2. Shut down the VM.
3. On the VM tile, click  and select the Network Adapters tab.
4. For the e1000 or e1000e network adapter, click Delete.
5. Click Add Network Adapter. The Add adapter dialog displays.
6. In the Adapter type dropdown menu, choose vmxnet3 and click Add adapter.
7. Click Connect and select the network to connect to. Click Connect.
8. Re-apply any custom network settings that you noted in Step 1.

Reference Links

• Why did my Windows VM suddenly lose network connectivity?: https://help.skytap.com/troubleshooting-why-did-windows-lose-network-connectivity.html
• Intermittent network disconnection when using Windows 2012 and E1000 adapter (2142564): https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2142564
• Windows 2012 virtual machines using E1000/E1000e driver experience loss of network connectivity (2109922): https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2109922