Virtual Box with multiple Nics failed to locate the NAT network

[ghost]

This issue was originally opened by @bax99 as hashicorp/packer#10379. It was migrated here as a result of the Packer plugin split. The original body of the issue is below.

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Hi there,

When installing Kali Linux 2004 with preseed.cfg and having packer configured with only the NAT network interface on VirtualBox, everything is fine.

However, in my case, I need 3 network interfaces to be configured. But with more than one interface, the packer build gets stuck on "Waiting for SSH to become available". If I open the GUI Virtual Machine and log on, I only see 1 Network Interfaces available under Kali Linux, even if three are configured in the json file.

part of the Json file

  "builders": [
    {
      "type": "virtualbox-iso",
      "boot_command": [
        "<esc><wait>",
        "/install.amd/vmlinuz<wait>",
        " auto<wait>",
        " console-setup/ask_detect=false<wait>",
        " console-setup/layoutcode=us<wait>",
        " console-setup/modelcode=pc105<wait>",
        " debconf/frontend=noninteractive<wait>",
        " debian-installer=en_US<wait>",
        " fb=false<wait>",
        " initrd=/install.amd/initrd.gz<wait>",
        " kbd-chooser/method=us<wait>",
        " console-keymaps-at/keymap=fr-ch<wait>",
        " keyboard-configuration/xkb-keymap=fr-ch<wait>",
        " keyboard-configuration/layout=Swiss french<wait>",
        " keyboard-configuration/variant=Swiss french<wait>",
        " locale=fr_CH<wait>",
        " netcfg/get_domain=hevs<wait>",
        " netcfg/get_hostname=kali<wait>",
        " grub-installer/bootdev=/dev/sda<wait>",
        " noapic<wait>",
        " interface=enp0s3<wait>",
        " preseed/url=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/preseed.cfg auto=true priority=critical",
        " -- <wait>",
        "<enter><wait>"
      ],
      "boot_wait": "10s",
      "disk_size": "{{user `disk_size`}}",
      "hard_drive_interface": "sata",     
      "iso_interface": "sata",
      "guest_additions_path": "VBoxGuestAdditions_{{.Version}}.iso",
      "virtualbox_version_file": ".vbox_version",
      "guest_os_type": "Debian_64",
      "headless": "{{ user `headless` }}",
      "http_directory": "{{user `http_directory`}}",
      "iso_checksum": "{{user `iso_checksum`}}",
      "iso_url": "{{user `iso_url`}}",    
      "memory": "{{ user `memory` }}",
      "vboxmanage": [
        ["storagectl", "{{.Name}}", "--name", "IDE Controller", "--remove"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--vrde", "off"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--graphicscontroller", "vmsvga"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--vram", "128"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--accelerate3d", "off"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--usb", "on"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--mouse", "usbtablet"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--audio", "none"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--nictype1", "82540EM"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--nictype2", "82540EM"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--nictype3", "82540EM"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--nictype4", "82540EM"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--clipboard", "bidirectional"],            
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--draganddrop", "bidirectional"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--nic1", "nat"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--natnet1", "default"],      
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--nic2", "intnet"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--intnet1", "intnet"],
        ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--nic3", "natnetwork"]
      ],
      "cpus": "{{ user `cpus` }}",    
      "ssh_username": "adminhevs",
      "ssh_password": "************",
      "ssh_port": 22,
      "ssh_wait_timeout": "10000s",
      "shutdown_command": "echo 'vagrant'|sudo -S shutdown -P now",
      "vm_name": "{{ user `template` }}"
    }
  ],
  "post-processors": [
    {
    "type": "vagrant",
    "output": "builds/{{user `box_basename`}}.{{.Provider}}.box"      
    }
  ],

Kali nics output

2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 08:00:27:b2:a1:ae brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

3: eth1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 08:00:27:98:9c:82 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

4: eth2: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 08:00:27:b9:8c:a3 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 10.0.2.35/24 brd 10.0.2.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute eth2

As shown, eth0 did not get any IP from nat, neither eth1 from intnet. I can set manually IPs with nmcli, but it is not what I expect.

How can we have multiple NICS in the json file and be sure the first one will be taken into account by packer?

Regards