You can attach up to four non-mouse serial devices such as plotters, hand-held computers, modems, or printers to a VM. Like a physical machine, a VM can send or receive data from the serial port. The serial port device itself is not modeled by the VM. The configuration file simply indicates where the port is, not what the device is. You can change the device attached to a serial port on a virtual machine during or between VM sessions.

Note

Serial devices are subject to the following restriction. A serial port device is "shared" by both a physical machine and a virtual machine and is locked for the duration of a virtual machine session. If the host OS requires the use of a particular serial port you must terminate the VM session that is using that port to allow the host OS to access it.

To add a serial port device

1. Open the VM configuration editor.
2. Click the expansion symbol next to Serial Ports.

You will see four entries like "COM1".

3. Click one of these entries to choose the appropriate file type for the serial device.

You can specify a serial port device as either a device or a file:

• Device : Use the file type "device" to attach the serial port of your machine to the VM. The file name that you enter must be a valid serial device (path) on the host operating system; the virtual machine's serial port uses the specified serial port on the physical machine. You can map any valid serial port on the physical machine as a serial port on the virtual machine. For example, you could attach either /dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyS1 to COM1 in the VM.
• File : Use the file type "file" to use a file as a serial device. This option writes the serial port output from the VM to a file. If the file already exists when you power on the VM, you are asked if you wish to overwrite the file, or append to it. The file name that you enter must be in the file namespace of the host operating system, specified using a path valid for the host operating system.
4. Exit the VM configuration editor by clicking OK, or continue to add or modify another feature.