Serial Port Settings Panel

Choose: VM > Settings > Hardware > Serial Port

A virtual machine can use up to four virtual serial ports. The virtual serial port can connect to a physical serial port or to a file on the host operating system. It can also be used to set up a direct connection between two virtual machines or a connection between a virtual machine and an application on the host computer. Make sure the virtual machine is powered off before you add or remove a serial port.

 

Note The Workstation User’s Manual contains detailed information about setting up serial ports to connect to an application and to connect two virtual machines to each other. It also contains instructions for debugging over a virtual serial port. See the section about serial ports in the chapter on connecting devices.

You can set the following options in the Device status section:

•	Connected — Use this check box to connect or disconnect the port while the virtual machine is running.

•	Connect at power on — Select this check box if you want the port to be connected automatically whenever you power on the virtual machine. You can change this setting when the virtual machine is powered on or powered off.

You can make changes to the following options in the Connection section when the virtual machine is powered on or powered off:

•	Use a physical serial port — Select this option if you want the virtual machine to use a physical serial port on the host computer. Use the drop-down list to specify which available port to use.

•	Use output file — Select this option if you want to send output from the virtual serial port to a file on the host computer. Click Browse, and then either locate an existing output file or navigate to the desired directory and type a filename for the file you want to create.

•	Use named pipe — Select this setting to set up a direct connection between two virtual machines or a connection between a virtual machine and an application on the host computer.

In the first field, enter /tmp/<socket> or another Unix socket name of your choice. The pipe name must be the same on server and client.

In the first drop-down list, choose whether this is the server or the client.

In the second drop-down list, choose whether the other end is a virtual machine or an application.