Virtual Device Serial0 Will Start Disconnected ((install)) Jun 2026

: Another application or virtualization service on the host may be using the COM port that the VM is trying to occupy.

Depending on your specific VMware product, use the following steps to resolve or suppress the warning: For VMware Workstation Users: Disable Virtual Printing Globally: This is the most common fix. Go to Preferences and uncheck the box for "Enable virtual printers" Modify Individual VM Settings:

The warning "Virtual device serial0 will start disconnected" is a common message that appears when starting a virtual machine in VMware products like Workstation, Fusion, and ESXi. While alarming at first glance, this message is typically harmless, but understanding its origins and implications is essential for efficient management of virtualized systems.

: Another background application or virtual machine may already hold an exclusive lock on the specific physical serial port or named pipe you are trying to deploy. virtual device serial0 will start disconnected

: In modern software builds—specifically VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion—legacy features like virtual printing via ThinPrint have been entirely removed. Legacy VMs imported into updated environments still have serial0 configured to route traffic to this dead print architectural layer.

environments when the software attempts to initialize a virtual serial port (often used for "Virtual Printing" or "ThinPrint") that is either misconfigured or disabled globally Recommended Solutions

Parameter "serial0.fileType" has an invalid value "Thinprint : Another application or virtualization service on the

Ensure the physical host machine actually possesses the resource specified in serial0.fileName . If it points to /dev/ttyS0 on a Linux host or COM1 on a Windows host, verify that the host operating system recognizes that physical hardware port.

The VM configuration file ( .vmx ) may be instructed to map serial0 automatically to a physical COM port on the host machine. If the physical host laptop or desktop lacks a physical DB9 serial port, or if the port is disabled within the host machine’s BIOS/UEFI, initialization fails.

A: Look for associated messages in the VM log. The presence of "virtual printing feature is globally disabled" points to ThinPrint as the cause. A licensing error message in ESXi indicates a license limitation. An access‑denied error suggests a host serial port permission issue. If the warning appears alone with no other messages, examine your serial port configuration in the VM settings. While alarming at first glance, this message is

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A: Because IOU/IOL images are binary-level simulations that run natively on Linux. They do not use the Dynamips virtual device layer. They treat serial interfaces as internal software constructs, not hardware emulations.

: Newer versions of VMware no longer support the "ThinPrint" technology, which often used to handle virtual printing. Legacy Settings