That would totally disable internet access on Windows though, including updates (but you also wouldn't have that attack surface!)
Does the VM using the "nat" mode of networking also use Windows routing table? I don't know much about the networking between guest and host, except that the guest uses NetworkManager through its ethernet device. Even though this is a virtual device, I didn't think it would go through Windows' own net stack.
Would the bridged networking be any different than passing through the USB wifi adapter directly to VMware? (at which point the host doesn't have access to internet)
This is probably useful from the VirtualBox manual:
> With bridged networking, VirtualBox uses a device driver on your host system that filters data from your physical network adapter. This driver is therefore called a "net filter" driver. This allows VirtualBox to intercept data from the physical network and inject data into it, effectively creating a new network interface in software...
I'd try it, it wouldn't be hard to reverse.