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VMware ACE Administrator’s Manual
9. Click Finish, then click OK to close the virtual machine settings editor.
In the client virtual machine
1. Open the virtual machine settings editor (VM > Settings).
2. Click Add to start the Add Hardware Wizard.
3. Select Serial Port, then click Next.
4. Select Use named pipe.
5. Use the default name, or enter another pipe name of your choice. The pipe
name must follow the form \\.\pipe\<namedpipe> — that is, it must
begin with \\.\pipe\. The pipe name must be the same on both the server
and the client.
6. Select This end is the client.
7. Select The other end is a virtual machine.
8. By default, the device status setting is Connect at power on. You may deselect
this setting if you wish.
Click Advanced if you want to configure this serial port to use polled mode. This
option is of interest primarily to developers who are using debugging tools that
communicate over a serial connection. For more information, see Special
Configuration Options for Advanced Users on page 212.
9. Click Finish, then click OK to close the virtual machine settings editor.
Special Configuration Options for Advanced Users
Two special configuration options are available for serial connections between a
virtual machine and the host or between two virtual machines. These options are of
interest primarily to developers who are using debugging tools that communicate
over a serial connection.
Improving CPU Performance when Debugging
The first option must be set in the virtual machine settings editor. This option is useful
when the serial port is being used by the guest operating system in polled mode as
opposed to interrupt mode. Polled mode causes the virtual machine to consume a
disproportionate share of CPU time. This makes the host and other guests run
sluggishly.
To restore performance for applications on the host, in the virtual machine settings
editor, select the virtual serial port, and check the Yield CPU on poll check box. This
configuration option forces the affected virtual machine to yield processor time if the
only task it is trying to do is poll the virtual serial port.