Windows 10: Question about bridged NICs

Hello,


I've been looking for some information about using bridged network adaptors in Windows 10, but what I've found has just confused me more.


I've just moved my router into my home office since I needed a wired connection for my new media/samba server, so now I can also connect my PC via ethernet it was just using WiFi before since the router was in the hallway. Right now I have both wired and WiFi connected not bridged, separate IPs but Windows will only use ethernet, even when samba is using almost all my ethernet bandwidth. My router is a standard TalkTalk Huawei home router.


I've read several things online - including on TechNet - that say it can be used to connect wireless devices to a wired-only network no use for me since my outer has wireless-AC, and I've read other things saying that it can basically combine the NICs' for greater throughput which would be handy for my situation. The only problem is that nothing I've read actually gives a clear answer to my question.


What I want to know is this: Will bridging my NICs allow greater bandwidth between my PC and router? In other words, would it allow samba to use a full gigabit while still being able to browse the internet with full WiFi bandwidth on the same IP? Obviously it won't improve my internet speed, that's TalkTalk's problem. And of course, samba can only use up to a gigabit since the server only has one gigabit connection to the router.


Thanks,

Leah

:)

 

Windows 10 1809 crashed with NIC Bridged

The PC is upgraded to Windows 10 1809 (17763.168)

The PC is quite stable but crashed when a Nic bridge is created between

- TAP-Windows Driver Version 9.21 (OpenVpn)

- Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller, driver 10.28.615.2018

After the creation, the bridge static IP is working as espected but the server is crashing around every 2 hours with a BSOD "SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED" caused by ndis.sys

NB: Same config with windows 10 1803 was perfectly stable

Any help is welcome.

 

Unable to connect internet in bridge mode in vmware

Configure Networks in Workstation

I would suggest you configure additional networks in VMware's Workstation the following way:

1. Open "Edit" -> "Virtual Network Editor"
   
2. Click on "Change Settings"
   
3. Click "Yes" on UAC
   
4. Click "Add Network"
   
5. Select free VMnet network to be created
   
6. When new network is added select it
   
7. Select "Bridged (connect VMs directly to the external network)"
   
8. Select under "Bridged to" your netowrk adapter which you have connected your host to your network
   
9. Repeat steps 4 to 8 until you have created Bridged networks for all of your hosts NICs
   

Configure your VM NICs setting

Go to "Settings" of your VM and change the Network adapter setting "Network Connection" to "Custom: Specific virtual network" and try with each of the newly created networks if the VM will pick up an IP.

I have found out that the setting to "Bridged: Connected directly to the physical network" in the VM settings, does not always work, as this setting should automatically detect which hosts NIC to use.

With the above creation you can work around that limitation.
Only thing to remember is to change the VM's NIC settings if you move you host's connection. Eg, moving from Wired to WiFi or from Home to Work.

NOTE!

If none of the networks at work will provide you an IP then your company's network is using some authentication protocol on the network which can prohibit IP assignment.

 

Network Bridge Stops Working after Creator's Update

I have also found that the Network Bridge has issues in the 1709 Windows Creators Update. Prior to update this setup worked flawlessly. It may have been the Creators Update, or an additional update from Windows Update that caused the issue.

Setup: Intel NIC and Wifi card in Host 1, both with new drivers. Wifi to domain network, 1Gb Ethernet to Host 2, bridged. Host 2 in DHCP.

Symptoms include:

• Mis- or very slow detection of network (stays at "unidentified") when both nics are in the plugged/connected state and bridged. Seems to be random whether the WiFi stays connected when DHCP is used on Host 1. Using static IP keeps the Wifi connected on
  Host 1.
• Pings to local (DNS) and remote servers intermittent on Host 1 after positive detection of domain network. Network task tray icon shows No Internet alert intermittently in conjunction with ping loss. Maybe 10-20 sec of ping replies, then none for a period.
  This suggests maybe a spanning tree detection algorithm is blocking at layer 2.
• IPV4 Route Table doesn't seem to change between working and non-working state, suggesting the problem is not in the IP stack.
• Removing bridge removes all symptoms on Host 1, and all connectivity on Host 2.
• Disabling/re-enabling both bridged NICs on Host 1, enough times and in the correct order, seems to fool the system, or get it a state machine in the proper state, and will finally get the detection algorithm to 'hook-up', but ONLY until the next reboot.