GNS3 doesn't list new VirtualBox Network Devices

Problem

GNS3 doesn't see any new Host-Only Ethernet Adapter created in VirtualBox.

Troubleshooting

We can verify and see that the new interfaces exists on the system.

C:\Users\user>netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces
Idx     Met         MTU          State                Name
---  ----------  ----------  ------------  ---------------------------
  1          50  4294967295  connected     Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1
 37          20        1500  connected     VirtualBox Host-Only Network #2
 21          20        1500  connected     VMware Network Adapter VMnet1
 22          20        1500  connected     VMware Network Adapter VMnet8
 24          20        1500  connected     VirtualBox Host-Only Network
 28          10        1500  connected     Local Area Connection 2
 45          20        1500  connected     VirtualBox Host-Only Network #3

The two above interfaces are missing and don't show in the GNS3 when trying add new VM. Because you don't see them on the GUI can't select them when trying to add a cloud VM to your network topology.

c:\Program Files\GNS3>"Network device list.cmd"

Network adapters on this machine:

NIO_gen_eth:\Device\NPF_{BAB3B416-5025-4142-A041-290EB05E7EA2}
 Name       : VMware Network Adapter VMnet8
 IP Address : 192.168.33.1
 Description: VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter

NIO_gen_eth:\Device\NPF_{AA540984-A0AD-45BC-905F-C39E4A15010C}
 Name       : VirtualBox Host-Only Network
 IP Address : 192.168.56.1
 Description: Sun

NIO_gen_eth:\Device\NPF_{939368AC-34FE-47CB-9D4B-DC26D284D91E}
 Name       : VMware Network Adapter VMnet1
 IP Address : 192.168.91.1
 Description: VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter

NIO_gen_eth:\Device\NPF_{991068D7-DDE1-45AB-B68F-24970ECA951B}
 Name       : Local Area Connection 2
 IP Address : 192.168.0.2
 Description: Marvell Yukon Ethernet Controller

Use as follows:
 F0/0 = NIO_gen_eth:\Device\NPF_{...}

Solution

This is Windows problem that doesn't propagate and advertise new virtual interfaces once created. The solution is to restart the Windows Service called 'NetGroup Packet Filter Driver'.

C:\Windows\system32>net stop npf
The NetGroup Packet Filter Driver service was stopped successfully.

C:\Windows\system32>net start npf
The NetGroup Packet Filter Driver service was started successfully.

References

1. http://blog.ngocpham.info/blog/2010/04/13/howto-gns3-network-device-list-problem/
2. http://forum.gns3.net/topic4878.html
3. http://blog.stephendolphin.co.uk/quick-notes/quick-helpful-list-of-netsh-commands-for-your-windows-server-core-2008r2-installation/
4. http://www.computerhope.com/netsh.htm