title: using VMWare Player 5, how can I access a web server running in a VM via an external machine?
body: <p>Win7 PC running Rails in an Ubuntu VM via VMWare Player. I'm working on a site and would like to show it to a friend who's outside my network. </p>
  
  <p>I found this blog post, which got me very close: <a href="http://blog.fardad.com/2012/06/vmware-player-and-custom-nat-port-map.html">http://blog.fardad.com/2012/06/vmware-player-and-custom-nat-port-map.html</a></p>
  
  <p>OK, so I have the VM that is using NAT. As I understand it, that means that the VM will appear to have the same IP address as the parent machine to outside traffic. </p>
  
  <p>I went into NAT settings and added port forwarding: </p>
  
  <pre><code>Host Port: 8200 Type: UDP Virtual IP Address: 192.168.198.184:3000 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>OK so my understanding is that I should now be able to go to 192.168.1.1xx:8200 (the IP of my 'real' PC) and access the webserver running in the VM. But when I go to that address, I don't get anything. I can ping 192.168.198.184 (the VM) from the PC. </p>
  
  <p>What I want to be able to do is go into my router and set up a port that will eventually forward into the VM. </p>
  
  <p>It seems like I'm missing something very small but I don't know what that is. Help, please. </p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>If anyone is curious how to get the Virtual Network Editor: </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>go to the vmware-directory and run in elevated cmd.exe-box</p>
    
    <p>rundll32.exe vmnetui.dll VMNetUI_ShowStandalone</p>
    
    <p><a href="http://communities.vmware.com/message/2155960#2155960">http://communities.vmware.com/message/2155960#2155960</a></p>
  </blockquote>