access guest boot console

[hostage]

How do I get to the guest's boot console?

[athlon_crazy]

You mean BIOS? Press "F2"

[hostage]

Yes, BIOS + kernel boot messages.  How do I get a screen where I can press F2?

[athlon_crazy]

What guest OS you are using?

[AndreTheGiant]

You must use vSphere Client and the console tab or option.

The problem is that usually the VM is too fast to start and you cannot see the POST screen.

In this case change VM settings to enter in the BIOS or add a boot delay (note that it is in ms).

Andre

[Lessi001]

Hello,

you can enable the BIOS from your VM with vSphere Client:

Select your VM

Edit Settings

go to "Option" Tab

Enable the box right to "Boot Options"

Start your VM and you will see the BIOS

Regards

Andi

[hostage]

Thanks for the vsphere client answer guys.  Is there any other way without requiring windows?  Even command line on the server (not ideal for giving regular users access to their VM console, but workable for an admin in a pinch)? [Mostly rhetorical aside: Why would a cross platform virtualization architecture require windows to run it?]

[hostage]

athlon crazy wrote:

What guest OS you are using?

Various guest operating systems - all of various unix-ish flavors.

[hostage]

From the lack of responses, I assume no one here knows of any way to view the guest console without vsphere?

[hostage]

I just found that there is a perl implementation of a vsphere command line tool (that can run on a non-windows box).  But it's not obvious how to attach to a guest console using that tool.  Is it possible and if so, how?

[mcowger]

The only way is with the vSphere Console on Windows, or using the vSphere Web Console (which is limited to certain operations and client operating systems).