Restart VMware Network Adapters From PowerShell

published: 2nd of July 2021

Intro

I have an annoying issue. After my laptop goes to sleep, the network adapters for my VMware virtual machines stop working. In this post i'll show you how to use PowerShell to kick them in the guts and get them going again.

How?

Open up a PowerShell window as Administrator and run the Get-NetAdapter command to list all of your network adapters.

cmd 
Get-NetAdapter

Name                      InterfaceDescription                    ifIndex Status       MacAddress             LinkSpeed
----                      --------------------                    ------- ------       ----------             ---------
Ethernet                  Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller           24 Disconnected 8C-8C-AA-C7-F2-C6          0 bps
Ethernet 2                Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller #2        21 Disconnected 8C-8C-AA-C7-F2-C5          0 bps
ZeroTier One [1d719394... ZeroTier Virtual Port                        20 Up           B2-2C-B9-B7-CD-F3       100 Mbps
Wi-Fi                     Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX200 160MHz                16 Up           64-BC-58-E3-4F-C7       270 Mbps
VMware Network Adapte...8 VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter for ...      11 Up           00-50-56-C0-00-08       100 Mbps
VMware Network Adapte...1 VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter for ...       6 Up           00-50-56-C0-00-01       100 Mbps
Ethernet 3                Lenovo USB Ethernet                           4 Disconnected 48-2A-E3-AE-62-FD          0 bps
Bluetooth Network Conn... Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Netw...       3 Disconnected 64-BC-58-E3-4F-CB         3 Mbps

Now run the Restart-NetAdapter command, specifying the Name of the adapter from the previous command.

Note
You can use wildcards such as (*) to perform multiple matches and or save on typing.

With the below command I am targetting the VMware Network Adapter 1 adapter.

cmd 
Restart-NetAdapter -Name "VMw*1"

Silicon gods willing, the VMs will now have functioning network adapters again.

Note
It may take multiple kicks in the guts to get the adapters functioning again.

Outro

In this post, I showed you how to use PowerShell to kick a network adapter while it is down. Whoever said never kick something while they are down didn't have to deal with VMware shenanigans.