Resolution
Generally, Shared Networking mode is recommended. Sometimes, you may need to use other Networking modes; it depends on your particular network configuration and the type of network access you want to use in your VM. Here is a brief description of all these modes:- Shared Networking – the recommended type of networking for the VM. Your virtual machine will share whatever network connection is used by your Mac. You will be able to access the network from the VM as long your Mac OS X is connected to the network. The only limitation of this mode is that the VM is not visible from the external network
- Bridged Networking – uses your network adapter. You should choose this mode if you want to access the VM from the external network. Please keep in mind that your network configuration should allow using DHCP to assign IP address for the VM, or you should obtain a static IP for the VM and set it in the guest OS.
- Host-Only Networking – This mode is recommended if you don’t want the VM to be able to access the external network. When in Host-Only Networking mode, the VM can see only the host system (Mac OS X) on the special internal network. However, you can set up the Apple Internet Sharing service in such a way that Mac OS X will share its connection with the VM (as described in the previous question of this FAQ section). In this case the VM networking will be similar to the Shared Networking mode.