Windows 2012 virtual machines using E1000/E1000e driver experience loss of network connectivity
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Windows 2012 virtual machines using E1000/E1000e driver experience loss of network connectivity

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Article ID: 341614

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
  • Virtual machine loses network connectivity intermittently
  • In the Windows Event Viewer (Expand Windows Logs and select System), you see entries similar to:

    Intel(R) 82574L Gigabit Network Connection Network link is disconnected

    or
     
    Intel(R) 82574L Gigabit Network Connection Network link has been established at 1Gbps full duplex
This issue would occur in these environments:
  • The virtual machine is Windows2012 or Windows 2012 R2
  • The virtual machine is using E1000 or E1000E driver
 Note: This issue would occur on  Window server 2008 and 2008 r2 also


Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0

Cause

This issue occurs due to the driver bundled with Microsoft Windows 2012.

Resolution

  • This is a known issue affecting ESXi 5.x and 6.0.
  • This issue is resolved in ESXi 5.5 patch 08 and ESXi 6.0 Update 2.
For ESXi 5.5

This issue is resolved in ESXi 5.5 Patch 08, For more information, see VMware ESXi 5.5, Patch ESXi550-201608401-BG: Updates esx-base (2144361)

 
 

For ESXi 6.0

This issue is resolved in ESXi 6.0 Update 2, available at VMware Downloads.
 

 


Workaround:
To work around this issue, use VMXNET3 instead of E1000 or E1000e driver.


Additional Information



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