I've downloaded the vmware appliance and it safely restricts access to the web interface from "outside", allowing access from 127.0.0.1, 192.168.0.0/24 and 10.0.0.0/8.

You don't also allow access from 172.16.0.0/12 which is also a RFC1918 address and in my particular case the addresses assigned to me when starting up the vmware instance were in this range making access via the web interface impossible.

If possible fix the vmware appliance to allow access from this network range and also perhaps from the link local IPv6 range too.