Windows: Error: There are no un-bridged host network adapters

After installing VMWare Workstation on a new machine I came across the above error which I’d never seen before – there were no currently-bridged adapters available to bind my virtual network to.

I believe the trigger was disabling the 2 automatically created virtual network adapters before I’d actually opened up a VM. The long and short of it os that the bridging kernel driver is not running, probably due to the fact that the vmware bridge protocol is not installed on the physical network adapter(s).

So:

  • Click on your network connections and choose “Open Network and Sharing Center”

Open Network and Sharing Center

  • Open the properties for your NIC and check whether youhave the VMWare Bridge protocol installed

          Click on the properties button . Is the bridge protocol installed?

  • If not, add the service and choose “VMware ridge Protocol” from the next dialogue box. If there are no services to install then it is likely that your install is corrupted and a reinstallation would be beneficial.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • If you have just added the bridging protocol OR if you already had it installed but you couldn’t see bridging adapters underyour virtual network preferences, starting the vmnet bridging driver is the next step. Open a command window (if using Vista or 7 then you need to open a command window with administrator privileges) and type “net start vmnetbridge”:

Start the vmnetbridge kernel driver

16 Replies to “Windows: Error: There are no un-bridged host network adapters”

  1. In hindsight I should have thought of this beyond just the VMWare configuration – something has to bind the virtual network to the real network! After playing around with my virtual network recently and reading your post this immediately flagged it for me. Thanks!

  2. Thanks a bunch! That did the trick, as for Barry, after an upgrade to Windows 10 (July 2016). Just had to reinstall the service on one NIC, and it reappeared on all.

  3. Thanks from me too!
    I am using Windows 10 Pro 64-bit on my PC. Had this same issue after upgrade from VMware Workstation 12.1.1 to latest 12.5.0. Tried a few other things – had Oracle VM VirtualBox installed (not using it at all), uninstalled it, tried a VMware Repair install, reboot PC, nothing worked.
    Then I saw this article and it all works! Thanks again.

    NOTE: On my systems at least, Automatic bridging does not work well. So I manually tell VMware to use the main LAN adapter of the PCs.
    (All my PCs except the laptop are connected to router via LAN wire and not WiFi.)

  4. Thank you very much, it was really helpful!!! I needed to reinstall the VMware ridge Protocol, restart the PC and and type “net start vmnetbridge” in cmd. Win 7 64 and VMware Workstation 12.1.1

  5. thanks a lot !! It helps with the problem ” Workstation fails to bridge adapter with the error: Cannot change network to bridged: There are no un-bridged host network adapters ”
    🙂

  6. Try right-clicking on the cmd icon and choosing “Run as administrator” – even though you are logged in as an administrator you don’t automatically get a command prompt with administrator privileges .. hope this helps!

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