Comment 12 for bug 153635

I've also experienced this issue running Workstation 6.01 with a clean Gutsy install. My virtual Ethernet card was also set for NAT mode when I built the VMware tools.

The workaround to disable roaming mode does enable the eth0 interface, but it introduces unacceptable delays in launching programs whenever the host network is unreachable or down. If the network card is disconnected clicking the Quit icon in the panel takes 30-45 seconds to produce the shutdown dialog. During this time all other processes appear to hang.

However, I've just updated to Workstation 6.02 and upgraded to the latest "VMware Tools 6.0.2 build-59824 for Linux" and the problem is fixed for me. Now nm-applet detects eth0 and the system is working again.