I am running VMWare Server 2 on my Windows 7 Ultimate Host. What I am trying to do is run a virtual Windows Home Server on top of the W7 so that way I can have a media center/home server in one box. I have read about a bunch of people doing this successfully.
The issue that I am having is regarding to VMWare networking and my college campus (which I imagine is probably like many work environments). Our school requires us to register the computers (done by MAC address) via the web to be able to get on the network the first time you plug-in. This registration page automatically pops up if you are not registered and does not appear if you already are.
My problem is that I am unable to connect to the internet with any VMs that I try to create because their virtual mac addresses aren't registered. When using a Bridged Connection I am able to ping other local computers and successfully connect from the host to the VM's network shares, but I am unable to connect to the internet. The registration page does not come up, so I am unable to register.
NAT seems to connect to the internet sometimes, but I do not think this is a feasible way to use Win Home Server as its not visible on the network. Since the network does not see this VM, the registration page does not come with nat either.
I have tried cloning the MAC of the VM to my physical NIC but when I try to register it from the host it said my computer was already registered. I have also tried using the MAC from my physical NIC and putting it on the virtual adapter but it would not allow it, giving me a message it was not in the proper range of values.
Any help? Thanks!