Serial Console

Sometimes it is more efficient to work with a VMware guest over a serial console rather than directly on the graphical console. To establish a serial console:

 1. Add a serial console in the guest

• Edit virtual machine settings
• Add > Serial Port
• Output to socket
• Socket: "/tmp/vmware-socket"
• This end is the server
• The other end is an application
• Connect at power on

2. Power on the guest

3. Open the pipe

Method 1: Directly attach socat (for text based communication)
In a new terminal on the VMware host:

$ socat unix-connect:/tmp/vmware-socket stdio

Method 2: Using minicom (for curses based communication)
In a new terminal on the VMware host:

$ socat unix-connect:/tmp/vmware-socket pty,link=/tmp/vmware-pty

Set up minicom to use port /tmp/vmware-pty with 57600 8N1. Then start minicom. Whenever possible, set your TERM to vt102.

4. Switch the guest's console

In OpenBSD (Method 1):

boot> set tty com0

In Solaris (Method 2):

- Select "Solaris Serial Console ttya"