Change the Parallel Port Configuration in the vSphere Web Client

You can change the output file for peripheral device output and schedule the parallel port to connect when the virtual machine powers on.

Note: If you are changing the parallel port on a virtual machine that runs on an ESXi 4.1 or earlier host, you can send output to a physical parallel port on the host or to an output file on the host. This option is not available with ESXi 5.0 and later.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have the following privileges:

• Virtual machine.Configuration.Modify device settings on the virtual machine.
• Virtual machine .Interaction .Device connection on the virtual machine to change the device connection status.

Procedure

1. Right-click a virtual machine in the inventory and select Edit Settings.
2. On the Virtual Hardware tab, expand Parallel port.
3. For virtual machines running on ESXi 4.1 and earlier hosts, select the type of media for the parallel port to access.
4. Click Browse to navigate to the file location.
5. Type a name for the file in the Save As text box and click OK.
   The file path appears in the Connection text box.
6. Select whether to connect the device whenever you power on the virtual machine.
   You can change this setting when the virtual machine is either powered on or powered off.
7. Click OK.