Linx 2.59 in VM Workstation XP Pro SP3

Here we go...:angr:
New PCs come in various flavors of Win 7, ONLY!
Ours is Windows 7 Enterprise- 32 bit.
Of course, some of the Rockwell Software is supported, however, not legacy PanelBuilder, RSL5, RSL500, etc., etc.,...
Since I am the company designated automation lab rat and since all of you guys did a pretty good job in sharing your OS conversion pains, I have decided to totally eliminate the option of splitting supported vs. unsupported RS between the host and guest machines.
Hence, we've purchased VMware Workstation and I created a virtual machine running Windows XP Pro SP3.
After some 16 total hours of tedious download/install, re-host, activate, unregister/register .DLLs, etc., RSL5K (16, 17, 19, 20), RSL5, RSL500, FT Services Platform, FT Activation, FTVS 6.1 (SQL!!!!-finally!!!), RSNetworx, PanelBuilder 1400e, PanelBuilder 32, DriveTools 32, RSLinx 2.59, UltraWare and AutomationDirect, Siemens, ABB, Danaher were running properly as they used to on the seven years old REAL XP machine.

For once, I couldn't believe it is actually possible!

However, Murphy's Laws brought me back to reality and, as usual, Rockwell support left me with no answers to an issue I've been encountered and couldn't solve so far.

The virtual machine running Linx uses the bridged connection to the host's network adapter flawlessly.
However, when this user needed to connect to an EtherNet/IP subnet while still being connected to the LAN (for obvious reasons), he used to use an USB to Ethernet adapter which's connection settings were easily set depending of the subnet it was going to relate to.
Now, after successfully installing the USB adapter's driver on both the host and guest machines (and being able to "toggle" it between the two OSs) and configuring of an EtherNet/IP driver related to the USB adapter , Linx cannot connect to anything it used to connect when running on an XP REAL machine.
I have tried everything I could think of, to no avail so far... TechSupport was speechless and "they were going to look into it!..."...

So, the question is: Is it possible to use an USB to EtherNet adapter within a virtual machine running RSLinx?

Anticipatedly thanks.

Yes I use a Netgear USB to ethernet adapter in an XP virtual machine using VMware workstation. The host OS is W7 x64. I can't use this adapter with W7 since there aren't any drivers for W7. You must make sure that the adapter is attached to the VM and not the host. Go under VM-Removable devices and see.

The adapter IS connected to the guest.
However, an EtherNet/IP driver configured for the USB adapter (you cannot choose the adapter unless connected to the virtual machine!) would not browse the subnet!

Do you have the correct IP information configured for the adapter in XP?

Yes. First three IP Address octals are matching the ones for the subnet. Mask 255.255.255.0.

And set a static IP address?

Yes it is static.
I am going to try to find another adapter. Thi one is working on the Win 7 host though.

Make sure windows firewall is turned off in the host and guest and any 3rd party firewall, or AV software is disabled and try again.