I am trying to configure a vmware virtual machine to access the external network via the host machine using the NAT capability. bridged to physcial is no longer an option.

My XP host is 192.168.250.105 via DHCP
My virtual machine is a 2k3 (domain controller) server with static ip 192.168.200.128
The virtual networks presented by vmware are
vmnet1 ( host only ) 192.168.95.0
vmnet8 (NAT) 192.168.245.0
In the vmware network adapter settings for this server I have currently selected NAT ( used to share the hosts ip address).

However, whether i use the above, or reset the adapter to a custom specific network ( & select vmnet8) it does not seem to see the external network and therefore I cannot use windows update etc to install patches.

From what I have read,
I am not sure whether the fault is with the network config settings, ie should the NAT range actually match the physical host or the virtual machine.
(I tried resetting the vmnet 8 settings to x.x.200.x but this didnt seem to work.)
or
the virtual 2k3 server must be altered in some way.
before I made it a static Ip and converted it to a dc it worked fine with a bridged connection.

Does this mean that my vmnet8 NAT settings do not have to match either the virtual or physical host ?
My thought was that the NAT range I have (currently x.x.245.x) should at least match up with the virtual machine (x.x.200.x) by changing the 245 to 200.

Ive changed the NAT config in vmware so that the range available matches the static ip for the virtual machine x.x.200.x. This allows me to ping between the virtual server at x.x.200.128 and my host which is seen at x.x.200.1, but not anything outside teh host as though it is a Host-Only connection.

My network adaptor is still NAT: Used to share the host's IP address.
Should I change this to custsom and select vmnet8 specifically instead of by default.