Installation guide

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VMware ESX Server Administration Guide
starts, the guest operating system may detect new virtual hardware and install
drivers for it. Respond to any messages as you would if upgrading the hardware
on a physical computer.
5. Start the virtual machine using the remote console. As it starts to boot, click
inside the remote console window, then press F2 to enter the virtual machine's
BIOS setup. Go to the Advanced I/O Device Configuration section and configure
the parallel port mode for the virtual machine to bidirectional.
Now your virtual machine can use a dongle or other parallel port device.
Note: As you start the virtual machine, you may see a message warning that the
parallel port is starting disconnected. If you do, connect to the virtual machine with a
remote console and use the remote console's Devices menu to connect the parallel
port.
Note: Only one operating system can be connected to the parallel port at one time.
You cannot configure more than one virtual machine to use a particular parallel port
at a given time.
Using Serial Ports in a Virtual Machine
To connect the virtual machine's first serial port (COM1) to the physical computer’s
first serial port, edit the virtual machine's configuration directly using the VMware
Management Interface.
Be sure the virtual machine is shut down and powered off, then add the following
lines to the configuration file as described in Modifying the Configuration File Directly
(Advanced Users Only) on page 141.
• Add an option called serial0.present and set its value to true.
• Add an option called serial0.fileType and set its value to device.
• Add an option called serial0.fileName and set its value to /dev/ttyS0.
When you power on the virtual machine, you can configure the serial port in the
guest operating system.
When the virtual machine is running, you can use the Devices menu on the remote
console to connect and disconnect its serial port.
You may also control whether the virtual machine starts with its serial port connected
to the physical computer's serial port. To set the first serial port so it is connected
when the virtual machine starts, add an option to the configuration file called
serial0.startConnected and set its value to true, as described in Modifying
the Configuration File Directly (Advanced Users Only) on page 141.