How to find the IP Address of a vm running on VMware (or other methods of using VM)

Question

I am running VMware Workstation on a Linux box.

When I power on a centOS (Linux) virtual machine I cannot get mouse or keyboard control of the machine. I suspect that it has something to do with the error message:

You do not have VMware Tools installed in this guest. Chose "Install VMware Tools" from the VM menu.

If I click on that menu option it inserts a virtual cd with drivers etc. This does not help me since I don't have keyboard or mouse control over the machine.

I was thinking that if I could figure out the IP address or hostname I could use any number of protocols to get into the machine (SSH comes to mind).

How can I get the IP address or hostname of this machine?

Note: I did not create this machine. A coworker created it who is no longer with the company. Would save me a lot of time if I could get into the machine. I have login credentials so that won't be a problem.

Solution 1

First Go in the Virtual Machine Settings.

Then in the Network Section, click the Advanced button and read the MAC address

Then in the console execute: arp -a

C:\>arp -a
Interface: 10.98.79.23 --- 0xb
  Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
  10.98.79.10           b8-ac-6f-cb-a1-80     dynamic
  10.98.79.12           78-2b-cb-aa-51-bf     dynamic

Interface: 192.168.20.1 --- 0x1c
  Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
  192.168.20.128        00-0c-29-56-bd-36     dynamic
  192.168.20.255        ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff     static

Found the MAC address and the IP will be on the side.

In this case the IP is: 192.168.20.128

Solution 2

Please check, if not those input devices are connected to the guest OS as USB devices? Once disconnecting them, they should become accessible to the host OS - and therefore operational.

on Linux the command is:

ip addr

or the rather obsolete:

ifconfig

the equivalent command on Windows is:

ipconfig /all

while the output looks about like that:

eno16777984: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
    inet 192.168.2.101 netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.2.255
    ...

Solution 3

There is a built-in VNC service in Workstation. I've not used it, but the config (below) would seem to suggest that you could enable it, and use your host's IP with a particular port with any of a number of VNC clients to gain control of your virtual machine.

Solution 4

On Windows 7,

1. Copied the MAC address to the clipboard
2. Open C:\ProgramData\VMware\vmnetdhcp.leases in Notepad
3. Search for the MAC address string.

Solution 5

To find any unknown host on your network (whether it's a VM or not) you can use Angry IP scanner. Another option for Linux is arp-scan (it's not usually installed by default, but has very few dependencies). The command arp-scan -l will give you a table of IP addresses and associated MAC addresses. All of your VM's will have similar MAC addresses, so you can narrow it down that way if you have a large network.

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Comments

[graycrow]

VMware Tools only gives you enhanced mouse integration (among other things); for example, the mouse no longer gets trapped in the VM window, forcing you to manually release it. Without the Tools, the VM should still be able to capture the keyboard and mouse, by clicking on/in the window and typing. There are icons in the bottom right of the host window that show the capture state.

[PATIL DADA]

@Ken That was my understanding as well. Unfortunately this does not appear to be the case with this vm.

[RivieraKid]

This requires access to the VM console, which @sixtyfootersdude is saying he hasn't got.

[Martin Zeitler]

@RivieraKid those commands can be executed on a local console of any machine running within VMware - if basic keyboard and/or mouse are not available at the shell prompt - that rather sounds like a general container mis-configuration... because only the enhanced keyboard depends on VMware tools. if no keyboard - simply mounting the disk into a fully functional OS is always possible (and rather hassle free).

[RivieraKid]

I agree, but OP states: "When I power on a centOS (Linux) virtual machine I cannot get mouse or keyboard control of the machine.". While I agree that there's something not right about his configuration, this does not answer the question.

[kbolino]

On Linux, ifconfig is now deprecated. It has been removed entirely from RHEL/CentOS 7, for example. Use ip addr instead.

[Martin Zeitler]

still have that command... while most likely the VM just has those input devices connected as USB devices - which causes them to be inaccessible to the driver - which is actually running on the host OS.

[Martin Zeitler]

@kbolino updated that.

[andrew lorien]

For me, the VM (using a DHCP address from my router) was not in my local machine's arp table. To make it knows on the network I had to get the VM to attempt a connection to my host ip - which was tricky, since i couldn't access the VM, but i did it.

[loostro]

On Windows10 you can use Settings -> Network & Internet -> Ethernet and click on VMWare Network Adapter VMNet8 which is the switch used for NAT: Useing the host's IP address. If you're useing Bridged, then it will be VMNet1. Once you click it you will see IP address assigned to that switch and it's MAC address. You can confirm it's the same MAC address in the same settings menu in @F Boucheros anwser

[loostro]

VMNet1 is always assigned to Bridged mode, VMNet8 is always assigned to NAT mode

[Alex]

Unhelpful, MAC is not listed.

[Dark Star1]

Easiest was to find the ip address of the container from the host. Thanks.