2016-04-19 Tuesday - VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter Problem

2016-04-19 3:35pm Update:
Uninstalling 5.0.16, rebooting, and doing a clean install of 5.0.18 appears to have resolved my issue.

I'm researching an issue setting up a VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter in a Mint 17.3 Linux Guest OS (on Windows 10). Note: I have successfully configured this in a prior version (4.3.x) of VirtualBox.

You can see the error below.

I've been using VirtualBox 5.0.16 - but will uninstall and upgrade to the latest (5.0.18) today.

It is worth noting that I do have a Host-Only Ethernet Adapter installed - and Windows reports that the driver is up-to-date (confirmed, after I removed the device, and had it re-install the drivers). However, it appears that there is no entry in the Properties list for a Host-Only Ethernet Adapter connection item.

A number of posts have described a similar problem - going back to several prior releases of VirtualBox.

• https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/7631/

• https://github.com/docker/machine/issues/1521

• https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=36730 
• https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=68590
• https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=70199
• https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=74601 
• https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=74691
• "You have to enable "VirtualBox NDIS6 Bridged NetworkingDriver" in "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter" 's properties"? 
• https://caffinc.github.io/2015/11/fix-vbox-network/
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/33725779/failed-to-open-create-the-internal-network-vagrant-on-windows10 
• http://superuser.com/questions/1002160/failed-to-start-virtual-device-in-oracle-virtual-box
• "Don't use NDIS6, it's known bug with this driver, you can install old NDIS5 driver which will solve this issue."
• http://ram.kossboss.com/virtualbox-host-only-adapter-error-verr_intnet_flt_if_not_found/
• http://www.codingepiphany.com/2015/11/22/virtualbox-5-host-only-error-failed-to-attach-the-network-lun/ 

• https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/13713
• https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/14040
• https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/14832
•  "Installed the new Windows 10 update "threshold 2" via Windows Update, and VirtualBox is no longer able to use Host Only adapters"
• "Current workaround is to enable "NDIS6 Bridging" on the HostIF network device."
• "After re-installing VB I switched on "VirtualBox NDIS6 Bridged Networking Driver" in properties network connection."
•  

Helpful References:

• http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/5.0.18/UserManual.pdf
• https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/UserManual.html 
• https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/VirtualBox

Some conjectures on how this problem might arise:

• Not properly shutting down a Guest OS before upgrading to a new version of VirtualBox
• Not doing a clean uninstall of VirtualBox before upgrading
• Not physically deleting the left-over contents of the VirtualBox directory after an uninstall
• A default Windows setting of [8] in the Windows Registry Key for MaxNumFilters
• Possibly needing to specify this as a parameter when installing some older release of VirtualBox? 
• -msiparams NETWORKTYPE=NDIS6
• Not running the Windows MSI installer as Admin?
• ...?

Error Encountered..

Failed to open/create the internal network 'HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter' (VERR_SUPDRV_COMPONENT_NOT_FOUND).

Failed to attach the network LUN (VERR_SUPDRV_COMPONENT_NOT_FOUND).

Result Code:	E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component:	ConsoleWrap
Interface:	IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}