Virtual Device Serial0 Will Start Disconnected Verified Link

For persistent warnings in encrypted or non-standard VMs, users can manually edit the configuration file to remove the faulty entries: Locate and delete the following lines:

If you need to capture serial data but lack a physical port: Navigate to VM Settings > Serial Port Change the connection type to Output to file Specify a path (e.g., C:\logs\serial_output.txt virtual device serial0 will start disconnected

Advanced users sometimes edit the .vmx configuration file directly to tweak parameters. If a line like serial0.present = "TRUE" is added without corresponding serial0.fileType and serial0.fileName entries, the device will start disconnected. For persistent warnings in encrypted or non-standard VMs,

If you clone a VM that had a serial port connected to a specific file path (e.g., C:\VM\serial.out ) or a physical COM port, the clone might retain the device configuration but fail to validate the target resource. When the clone boots on a different host or directory structure, VMware cannot find the target and defaults to “disconnected.” When the clone boots on a different host

If the serial port is not required for your workflow, removing it will stop the error: Shut down the Virtual Machine. VM > Settings (or Edit Virtual Machine Settings). Serial Port from the hardware list. Connect at power on to delete the device from the configuration entirely. Method B: Mapping to an Output File

To avoid seeing this warning in the future, follow these guidelines:

On ESXi, if the serial port is configured to write to a file on a datastore, ensure the VM has write permissions to that directory. Try setting the file path to a location like /var/log/vmware/ temporarily to test.