vmnetcfg.exe is an essential tool if you want to manage a Windows host computer’s virtual interfaces (like VMnet1 and VMnet8). If comes with VMware Player, but is buried very deep and you need to know where to look to find it. Thanks mostly to this post, based on an earlier version, I was able to find vmnetcfg.exe in VMware Player v3.1.4. [Update 2012-06-18 – I just tried it on VMware Player 4.0.4. It still works]. Here’s how I did it:
Preparation
On my first attempt, I found my TEMP directory was so clogged with junk that I couldn’t find the file I needed, so I cleaned it out:
C:\>cd %TEMP% C:\Users\CHRISW~1\AppData\Local\Temp>del /F /S /Q *.*
Or for the GUI junkies – enter the location %TEMP% in the address bar of a Windows Explorer window and clean away.
Some files will be skipped of course as they will be in use.
Next I had to find the VMware Player install file – so I searched my drive for VMware-player*.*. I found Firefox had put it in my Downloads directory.
Step by step
Task 1: Get a window open of your %TEMP% directory
- Make sure VMware player is NOT running.
- Open a Windows Explorer window. Or in layperson speak ‘Open your “Computer” or “My Computer” folder’
- Type %temp% in the address bar; hit <Enter>. Keep this folder open and visible while you continue with the next task,
Task 2: Run VMware-player-3.1.4-385536.exe
- In another Windows Explorer window, locate the VMware-player-3.1.4-385536.exe (or similar name) file you downloaded form vmware.com
- Run this program, and as it loads, notice that a directory appears in your %temp% directory – in my case it was called vmware_1311110184
- When the installer program has got to the Welcome screen, just leave it sit there.
Task 3: Locate network.cab
- Open the vmware_1311110184 directory folder in your %temp% folder.
- Locate the file called network.cab (Note: you will only see the .cab part if you have enabled Windows Explorer to show extensions)
- Open the network.cab and find vmnetcfg.exe (Again, you will only see the .exe part if you have enabled Windows Explorer to show extensions)
- Tip: If you can’t open network.cab by double-clicking on it, type the following commands at the command prompt:
cd %temp% cd vmware_1311110184 explorer network.cab
Task 4: Relocate vmnetcfg.exe
- Copy the vmnetcfg.exe file to your VMware Player’s install directory in my case C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Player\
- If you get an error copying to this directory, copy it to the Desktop first, and then move it.
- If you don’t move vmnetcfg.exe to the Vmware Player install directory, you will get an error saying that the application failed to start because sigc-2.0.dll was not found.
- Cancel the install
- Right-click and drag the icon for vmetcfg.exe from C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Player\ to your desktop to create a shortcut
End of lesson
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Thanks a lot . This help me a lot
Glad it was useful
It doesn’t look like there’s a network.cab file in the temp directory created when installing VMWare Player v5. Do you know if there’s another place to look with v5?
Open your cmd box and make your way to your vmware install location. in my case I had to cd.. back to just C: directory and then follow the path program files (x86) > vmware > vmware player > once you are in this directory you can type in: rundll32.exe vmnetui.dll VMNetUI_ShowStandalone This will open up the virtual network editor for Vmware Player 5. kind of a pain in the arse really. such a usefull tool should be readily available. but there it is…. I forgot to add that when you run the cmd.exe you need to run it as an admin in order to make any changes when the VMnetwork editor opens up. Hope this helps.
Thanks for that – I’d not had a chance to figure that out yet.
Chris (RedNectar)
I had player and did this fix, then upgraded to workstation.
When I tried to use the old link (many months later) I got the sigc-2.0.dll error.
Because it was calling the vmnetcfg.exe from player – left behind because not part of the install.
An hour troubleshooting a bad link.
derp
Thanks for the heads-up
Effective, very easy to follow, and extremely helpful.
Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together.
Glad it was helpful.
Thanks. FYI tried to be clever and put all the files in that .cab into a directory – it doesn’t work because of other missing DLLs (sigc-2.0.dll). When I copied it over to the VMPlayer directory, only the vmnetcfg file is missing.
Hi there…just left this other issue to this article. It´s the second time I see an explanation on how to extract the vmnetcfg.exe and again the file is said to be copied onto the VMware\VMware Player folder. When I do that I get the following error opening the editor:”the program can´t start because sigc-2.0.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem”. I tried it on the initial VMware folder and it runs. Maybe I am doing this wrong and that´s the reason why I get different info from ipconfif and the editor. Would you be kind enough to clarify this issue for me?
Anyhow, keep on the good work!
Not sure what the deal is with sigc-2.0.dll – possibly the latest version of VMware Player installs things a little differently.
Anyway – thanks for the tip. You said “I tried it on the initial VMware folder and it runs” – when you say “initial VMware folder” do you mean \Program Files\VMWare\
I have VM Workstation 7 installed, and found this file already in my C:\Program Files(x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation folder. It’s possible this was already done by our IT guys imaging this PC originally, but it might be worth a quick search of your C: drive for that vmnetcfg.exe file name to see if it’s already there.
Spot on! You don’t need to do this with VMWare Workstation – but there are a lot of folk who use the Free VMWare Player – and it was for those folks that I wrote this article (That’s why it’s called Finding vmnetcfg.exe in VMWare Player 😉 )
thx … much better than reinstalling vm player from a cmd window
thx !!!!
Beautiful! Thanks!
Thanks! This was most helpful!
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