A virtual machine must have its own identity on a bridged network. For example, on a TCP/IP network, the virtual machine needs its own IP address. Your network administrator can tell you whether IP addresses are available for virtual machines and which networking settings to use in the guest operating system.

Typically, the guest operating system can acquire an IP address and other network details from a DHCP server, but you might need to set the IP address and other details manually in the guest operating system.

Users who boot multiple operating systems often assign the same address to all systems because they assume that only one operating system will be running at a time. If the host system is set up to boot multiple operating systems, and you run one or more operating systems in virtual machines, you must configure each operating system to have a unique network address.