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ESXi does not support physical serial and parallel ports

Details

VMware ESXi does not currently support physical serial and parallel ports.

Solution

You can, however, configure and use a virtual serial or parallel port as a named pipe or an output file.
  • Use Named Pipes when you want to transfer data between two virtual machines using serial port.
  • Use an output file when you want to transfer data from a virtual machine to the ESXi host using a serial port or parallel port interface.
Note: Neither of these choices requires any physical serial or parallel ports on the ESXi host, and ESXi does not currently support the use of physical serial or parallel ports.
 
VMware is actively working with over 250 partners to enable solutions that typically depend on serial port communication for ESXi. VMware ESXi is a more secure hypervisor architecture that enables third-party solutions through CIM providers.

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Actions
  • KB Article: 1003129
  • Updated: Nov 13, 2009
  • Products:
    VMware ESXi
    VMware VirtualCenter
  • Product Versions:
    VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
    VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
    VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
    VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
    VMware VirtualCenter 2.5.x