Hostonlyif not fully initialized after create returns successful

[ronwilliams]

When creating a new hostonlyif it appears that the adapter is not fully initialized when create returns success

Host OS - Windows 10 Build 10240 Virtual 5.0.4 - release and 5.0.5 102614

Example (note the garbage netmask returned)

vboxmanage hostonlyif create && vboxmanage list hostonlyifs
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interface 'VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter #3' was successfully created
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter #3
GUID:            336f5edf-a838-43a1-a55f-7955e605ee59
DHCP:            Enabled
IPAddress:       192.168.56.1
NetworkMask:     15.0.0.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:384b:5e06:3257:bdb1
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 0a:00:27:00:00:00
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter #3

Here's the same example with ipconfig

vboxmanage hostonlyif create && ipconfig
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interface 'VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter #3' was successfully created

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter VirtualBox Host-Only Network #3:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::8d8e:d529:1359:8373%22
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

If we wait ~5 seconds after creation and use list hostonlyifs we get the correct information

vboxmanage hostonlyif create && timeout 5 && vboxmanage list hostonlyifs
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interface 'VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter #3' was successfully created

Waiting for 0 seconds, press a key to continue ...
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter #3
GUID:            c0b80be6-b9d2-499e-855b-b7043f26eec5
DHCP:            Enabled
IPAddress:       192.168.56.1
NetworkMask:     255.255.255.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:a541:cd37:5679:1f0c
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 0a:00:27:00:00:00
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter #3

This is big problem for tools like docker-machine,etc.

[Mihai Hanor]

Creating a network interface is one thing, setting up its network protocols is another.

[ronwilliams]

Here's the output from VirtualBox 5.0.2

vboxmanage hostonlyif create && vboxmanage list hostonlyifs
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interface 'VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter #3' was successfully created
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter #3
GUID:            17414a7f-cd06-4b9b-a53d-545e5be07b2a
DHCP:            Enabled
IPAddress:       192.168.56.1
NetworkMask:     255.255.255.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:1c6a:e1dc:c8cd:ab9c
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 0a:00:27:00:00:00
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter #3

[ronwilliams]

Disregard the ipconfig example in my original post. But I still think we should see output consistent with what VirtualBox 5.0.2 outputs with the proper netmask. I believe that's what we were seeing with the 4.x.x series of VirtualBox.

[Valery Ushakov]

This might be related to #11496. The forum thread xref'ed from there has an ​example of bogus 15.0.0.0 netmask too.

[ronwilliams]

Nice find and I know it's a it late for most folks around the world but happy belated programmers day!