Link that indicates others have a similar problem is https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4665 I have laptop with wifi disabled, ethernet cable plugged in. Vbox settings: Bridged adapter eth0 Intel Pro/1000 MT adapter type Promiscuous mode: deny What Win7 sees (ipconfig): 192.168.1.161 Linksys shows machine win7p32 (name of VM) at this address. In win7 machine, Mozilla goes to sites OK as far as I can tell. I have a wiki for a local condo corp and I can log in etc. AVG Free seems to get updates OK (possibly a bit slow). In Control panel -> System, if I open early after startup, activation is not reported, then comes up as "windows is activated". But -- Windows update checking for updates just sits forever. So I'm not totally stopped from using the virtual Win 7, and I've managed as a test to go to OPL and check out an epub, get it into Adobe Digital Editions and read it. Still, it would be nice to resolve the Updates. Thanks to all who've suggested ideas. They were on right track, but I think we're possibly into crazy MS territory. JN On 15-07-06 03:49 PM, Alex Pilon wrote: >>> On Mon, Jul 06, 2015 at 03:20:39PM -0400, ProfJCNash wrote: >>>> I have some experience playing with the network settings and have >>>> had to do so once or twice. But so far it has been trial and error >>>> until things work. Bad practise. I should try to learn what the >>>> settings mean. >>> >> On 15-07-06 03:28 PM, Alex Pilon wrote: >>> Is it that you just don't understand the settings themselves, or that >>> you don't understand the virtualization and networking concepts behind >>> them? >> > On Mon, Jul 06, 2015 at 03:36:20PM -0400, ProfJCNash wrote: >> I'm almost entirely a user. I know the generalities, but almost no >> specifics, of the internals. > > By internals do you mean ‘the Linux kernel uses RCU here here and here, > and the functions call graph looks like this, etc.’? Or do you mean just > how IP routing works, mapping the concepts to the Linux kernel interface > and userland to configure that? > >> Any idea if I need to worry about Promiscuous Mode > > Assume not, and don't enable unless you know and understand how it would > fix a problem. > >> and the "Cable connected" option in advanced settings? > > Fluff if the host's Ethernet NIC is always connected. > >> I believe the MAC address is generated and should be left alone. > > Yes, unless you notice a conflict. >