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In former times, there was a vmnetcfg.exe present with the VMWare Player distribution.

Using vmnetcfg.exe, one was able to configure the VMWare network settings like setting up a port forwarding for NAT and so on.

Unfortunately, vmnetcfg.exe is no longer present in newer installations of VMWare player.

How do I manage the network settings with a newer player installation?

eckes
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  • Some net options can be set by editing the config files, like: C:\ProgramData\VMware\vmnetnat.conf see: https://pubs.vmware.com/workstation-9/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.ws.using.doc%2FGUID-C2EC7B92-A499-4B47-95B6-0BFDDA28AC34.html – David Balažic Sep 19 '16 at 11:03

1 Answers1

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There are at least two possibilities to get hands on the VMWare Network Settings again.

  • extract vmnetcfg.exe from a VMWare Workstation setup file
  • execute vmnetcfg using vmnetui.dll

How to extract vmnetcfg.exe from a VMWare Workstation setup file?

If you still have the setup file used for installing the player, you could extract the vmnetcfg.exe from this setup file:

  • download a VMWare Workstation setup matching your VMWare Player version from http://www.vmware.com/go/downloadworkstation
  • open a command prompt where your setup file is (e.g. C:/temp/download)
  • unpack the setup file using
    VMware-workstation-full-VERSION.exe /e target_dir
    This will create target_dir and unpack the contents of the installer there
  • locate core.cab in the fresh target_dir folder
  • open core.cab with an archiver capable of reading .cab files
  • copy vmnetcfg.exe from the archive to the install directory of your VMWare Player
  • execute vmnetcfg.exe

However, this method has some drawbacks:

  • need to download the workstation installer first
  • need to download a workstation setup matching your player version
  • manual interaction

To have an easier way, read on.

How to execute vmnetcfg using vmnetui.dll?

While the player installation doesn't contain vmnetcfg.exe anymore, there's a file called vmnetui.dll present in the installation folder of your VMWare Player. To bring up the UI of the network config, do this:

  • open a command promt as administrator
  • navigate to your install folder of VMWare Player
  • execute rundll32 vmnetui.dll,VMNetUI_ShowStandalone

This will bring up the VMWare network settings dialog.

eckes
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  • the last option doesn't seem to work anymore on VMWare Player 12 – dfuse Mar 30 '16 at 12:42
  • Neither does it work on v7. – David Balažic May 17 '16 at 13:50
  • in my "vmware player 12.1.1", that dll doesn't even exist. and there's no such command line parameter in the installer. there is an "x" switch which is supposed to extract everything to %temp% , but it doesn't work. :( – hanshenrik Aug 24 '16 at 20:02
  • Any idea how to get network settings if the host system is linux? – vextorspace Dec 05 '16 at 13:01
  • @vextorspace: never used VMWare on Linux, sorry. – eckes Dec 05 '16 at 13:11
  • Just found this: https://pubs.vmware.com/workstation-9/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.ws.using.doc%2FGUID-C2EC7B92-A499-4B47-95B6-0BFDDA28AC34.html – vextorspace Dec 05 '16 at 13:19
  • Extracting a few more files (a DLL is needed, don't remember which) will make it work even with version 7.x. Also if you keep those files around (in a separate folder), they work even with newer versions, like 12.x. They just edit vmnetnat.conf (see comment on the question) and restart the VM NAT service. – David Balažic May 30 '17 at 16:27
  • it is still working with workstation v16 but files are located in Workstation.cab. If you put in a random folder it will complain that the following dll are missing: vmwarebase.dll, vmwarecui.dll, sigc_2.0.dll and vmapputil.dll. I put vmnetcfg.exe in the folder of the VM Player and it works :) – Stefan Jun 15 '22 at 12:59