Virtual PC service pack hides your network card from virtual machines

  • Article

After applying service pack 1 for Virtual PC 2007, I loaded up my virtual machines and found I couldn't see the Internet anymore. A reboot of the host didn't help and then I checked if the guest OS was configured to use the local network card only to find it missing from the list:

  • Not connected
  • Local only
  • Microsoft Loopback Adapter
  • Shared

A bit of Internet-searching and I find that only adapters with "Virtual Machine Network Services" enabled can be used. 

After ticking the box (and reversing the change seemingly made by the service pack), I now get a more populated list:

  • Not connected
  • Local only
  • Microsoft Loopback Adapter
  • Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC 
  • Shared

Yet another hurdle behind me.