Im using windows 7 and im trying to get LAN to work in Backtrack 5 r3. My question was can i get LAN to work with backtrack i'm sorry i didn't explain better. Thanks =)
Your default setup for VMware should work, unless your using virtualbox? You said VMware in the first one...
Anywho, the default setup for VMware uses NAT which works just fine (tested and tried a ton of times with BTr3 by me, worked every time) you will not however be able to use any of the wireless exploit tools from within it unless you buy a USB dongle.
If its not working you might want to try re-installing it with the defaults, or at least make sure it's configured to use NAT. If the VMware machien is setup properly, then try pinging the IP of your host machine from within it, see what happens. It could be that your /etc/hosts is misconfigured (though id rate this as least likely)
Above all else, make sure it's VMware and not VB (virtualbox). Everytime i do an install on VB the networking NEVER works, after the last time i spent 2 weeks on it and getting nowhere i swapped to VMware and havent had a problem since. Which sucks cause i don't support the companies philosphy as much (pay for our stuff, except our minimal VMware player) as i do VirtualBox (free to use, period) but it works a helluva lot better