Virtual Device Serial0 Will Start Disconnected ~upd~ Jun 2026

To help narrow down the best solution for your setup, could you let me know you are using (Workstation, Player, or ESXi) and what operating system is running inside the virtual machine? AI responses may include mistakes. Learn more Share public link

For more persistent issues, or if the "Printer" device doesn't appear in the GUI, you can manually clean the configuration file as suggested by Broadcom Knowledge Base .

Right-click the VM in your library and select (or go to VM > Settings ).

If you actually need the serial port for kernel debugging or specialized hardware, ensure the backing connection is correct.

For advanced administrators managing standalone ESXi hosts or Workstation environments, editing the virtual machine configuration ( .vmx ) file offers a direct remedy. virtual device serial0 will start disconnected

Search for lines starting with serial0 and either delete them or change their values to FALSE : serial0.present = "FALSE"

Make sure no other application on the host is using the COM port.

However, there are niche scenarios where this disconnected state causes operational issues:

When the virtual machine is configured to use a physical serial port on the host (e.g., COM1, /dev/ttyS0), VMware must access that device. If the port does not exist, is already in use by another application, or is locked by the operating system, VMware cannot connect to it. The typical error in this case is "serial0: Unable to open the COM1 serial port: No such file or directory" or "Access is denied". In Windows hosts, VMware needs appropriate permissions, which may require running the application as an administrator or checking the port's availability. To help narrow down the best solution for

Log into the or open VMware Workstation . Power off the target virtual machine. Right-click the VM and select Edit Settings .

Navigate to the VM folder and open the .vmx file with a text editor (e.g., Notepad). Look for lines starting with serial0 . Ensure they look similar to this for a pipe connection: serial0.present = "TRUE" serial0.fileType = "pipe" serial0.fileName = "\\.\pipe\yourpipename" serial0.startConnected = "TRUE" Save and close the file, then restart the VM. 4. Troubleshooting: When the Serial Port is Needed

Solution 1: Removing the Legacy Printer Device (Workstation & Fusion)

Depending on whether you actually need to use a serial port within your virtual guest OS, choose one of the following solutions. Right-click the VM in your library and select

Access the datastore or directory where the VM files are located via SSH, SFTP, or the datastore browser.

A VM configured with a host-dependent serial port connection was migrated to a new host that does not share the same hardware topology or file paths. How to Fix the Error: Step-by-Step Solutions

Virtual Device Serial0 Will Start Disconnected: Causes and Fixes

You downloaded or moved a pre-configured VM template created on a computer that had a physical serial port, but your current machine does not.