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WSH PVE

Serial port Reference

Serial ports give a guest a text console that can be reached from the Proxmox web UI (xterm.js) or with qm terminal <vmid>. They are essential for the non-x86 architectures added by the WSH patches, where graphical output is limited or unavailable.

Adding a serial port

Section titled “Adding a serial port”

A VM can have up to four serial ports, serial0 through serial3. Add one from the VM’s Hardware panel (Add → Serial Port).

Using a serial port as the primary console

Section titled “Using a serial port as the primary console”

Set the guest’s Display to one of the Serial terminal entries (serial0–serial3) to route the primary console to that port instead of an emulated graphics card. This is the standard way to interact with guests that have no usable display adapter.

Once configured, open the console from the web UI, or from a node shell (escape with Ctrl-O):

Terminal window
qm terminal <vmid>

Architecture notes

Section titled “Architecture notes”
  • aarch64 only supports a serial console — there is no graphical display, so set Display to a serial terminal.
  • sparc / sparc64 have working framebuffers (tcx/cg3), but a serial console is still useful for headless installs and for watching OpenBIOS/PROM output during boot.
  • x86_64 guests normally use a graphics adapter, but a serial port is still handy for kernel debugging, headless servers and capturing boot logs.

Further reading

Section titled “Further reading”