DNS server not responding

I have a desktop with Windows 7 on it, which hosts a virtualbox VM which runs Windows XP. For some reason I can't connect to the internet from my Windows 7 machine, however I can connect fine from the VM which runs on top of it? My wife primarily uses the VM so I'm not sure exactly when this stopped working, it used to work fine.

When running the troubleshooting tool it tells me the Firewall may be preventing the program from running, so I turned the firewall off but that didn't change anything. A second problem the tool indicates is that "Windows can't communicate with the device or resource (primary DNS server)". I have tried releasing and renewing my ipconfig, also to no avail.

Any help please? Happy to post any logs but not sure which ones would be needed.

Hello and welcome to the forum.
We have seen quite a bit of this type of issue lately and it seems to involve McAfee and apparently some recent Windows Security Update, although I'm not too sure about the second part of that.
The resolution for some has been to uninstall McAfee using the programs and features applet in the control panel and follow that up by running the vendor specific proprietary removal tool from here How to uninstall or reinstall supported McAfee products using the Consumer Products Removal tool (MCPR) and replacing that with MSE from here Spyware Protection | Free Spyware Protection | Microsoft Security Essentials
So if you're running a McAfee Security Product on your host machine, that may be the issue.
Regards
Randy

Hi, and thanks for the quick reply. I do indeed run McAfee, so that is likely to be the problem, considering I can't exactly remember installing or doing anything that could have broken this. Just to get some clarity on your suggestion, you mean to say I have to entirely remove McAfee and replace that with a different anti-virus app? I have paid for McAfee, so that would seem a strange way to resolve the issue. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that McAfee should be bringing out a patch soon to resolve the issue?

Originally Posted by peachtree14

Hi, and thanks for the quick reply. I do indeed run McAfee, so that is likely to be the problem, considering I can't exactly remember installing or doing anything that could have broken this. Just to get some clarity on your suggestion, you mean to say I have to entirely remove McAfee and replace that with a different anti-virus app? I have paid for McAfee, so that would seem a strange way to resolve the issue. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that McAfee should be bringing out a patch soon to resolve the issue?

That might be a reasonable assumption, but I have looked and can find nothing regarding McAfee even acknowledging that the problems is theirs, partly theirs, or that it exists. So I guess depending on how long you want to sit around and wait, without your internet working on that computer, you can certainly hope that they do something about it.
I was simply informing and explaining what others have done to remedy the issue. Very sorry to hear that you actually paid for McAfee, but uninstalling and installing applications is something everyone does all the time, paid for or not.
Best Wishes
Randy

Thanks Randy, appreciate your help with this. Adios McAfee...

I would actually be interested in hearing if uninstalling it (McAfee) resolved the issue you are having and then if reinstalling it either caused the issue to return or had no ill effect on your network connections at all.
Sometimes things like this happen when something in the underlying network stack changes and and over zealous security suite is not made aware that some additional conditions need to be set or reset. And sometimes uninstalling the security suite, rebooting the computer and then (assuming that the problem is resolved) reinstalling the security suite makes everything copacetic again. So that might be worth a try before resorting to replacing it with the MSE alternative.
I will only say.... regarding MSE, that it generally is much more friendly towards these types of anomalies then other vendor products.

When I went to uninstall McAfee I noticed that the internet was working again. Out of the blue and with nothing done on my side. So I'm going to leave well enough alone for now and hope it stays like this. Hopefully this has been resolved now for the others experiencing it as well.

Originally Posted by Trouble

We have seen quite a bit of this type of issue lately and it seems to involve McAfee and apparently some recent Windows Security Update, although I'm not too sure about the second part of that.

I had the same problem (Dell Studio 1558, Win 7, McAfee). Wasted a whole lot of time on the "usual suspects" and finally solved the problem by uninstalling just this one MS update: "Update for MS Windows KB2732500" (8/17/2012)

Might try that before uninstalling McAfee.

Hope this saves someone time!
Rob