Member Avatar for lewashby

I just installed CentOS in my Oracle virtual box and now I'm having trouble getting it to connect online. I'm following the directions here -> http://xmodulo.com/how-to-configure-network-interfaces-in.html but the file ifcfg-eth0 is not showing up in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ a lot of ther ifFILES are showing up but not that one. I would post the contents here but cut/past isn't working between my Mint Liunx desktop and my CentOS VM, even though I have turned that option on. My desktop is connected to the internet via my eth0 card and a network cable to my switch. Any ideas? Thanks.

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Dani AI

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Likely causes: the VM’s VirtualBox adapter mode (NAT vs bridged) or the guest’s network naming/management (NetworkManager / predictable interface names) — both can leave no ifcfg-eth0 file even though an interface exists. is right to ask about NAT vs bridged; is correct to check which interfaces are present; and ’s hint about installing missing tools applies if a diagnostic command is unavailable.

Troubleshooting checklist (in order):

  • Verify the VM’s Network settings in VirtualBox: Adapter enabled, "Cable connected" checked. Use NAT for a quick Internet test; bridged requires the host NIC to be on the same network and can fail with some wireless adapters. After changing the adapter type, reboot the guest.

  • Inside the guest, identify the actual interface name and status with modern tools (for example, the ip family or nmcli). Look for a matching profile in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts (names are often enp0s3, ens33, etc., not eth0). If no profile exists, create one for the detected interface or add a NetworkManager connection.

    Example minimal file placed as /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-enp0s3 (adjust the device name):

    DEVICE=enp0s3
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes
NM_CONTROLLED=yes
TYPE=Ethernet

    Bring the interface up (via ip link / nmcli) and restart NetworkManager or the network service as appropriate.

Additional notes: the old ifconfig tool may be absent on minimal installs — install the net-tools package if needed. For clipboard/file transfer, install VirtualBox Guest Additions and enable Shared Clipboard or use SSH (NAT + port forwarding or bridged). If interface names look wrong after hardware changes, check and remove stale udev persistent-net rules so the guest can recreate the correct profile.

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Member Avatar for rubberman

This should not be a problem at all with VBox. How have you configured the virtual network adapter for your VM? Is it nat'd or bridged? If bridged, are you using a static or dhcp address? I have run VM's on dozens of VBox installations in both Windows and Linux hosts, and never have had this problem.

Member Avatar for empowrd

Try run #ifconfig -a

See if you have any interfaces showing up my guess is the network connection that uses virtualbox might not have turned on upon boot. Had this issue before with RHEL and CentOS on VM servers.

Member Avatar for Sana_4

using yum install packge_name

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