Virsh console

virsh console YOUR_MACHINE Connect the virtual serial console for the guest

Syntax:

• virsh console YOUR_VM_NAME [devname] [--safe] [--force]
• Man page: https://www.libvirt.org/manpages/virsh.html#console

Connection examples

Connecting using VM name:

virsh console MACHINE_NAME
Connected to domain MACHINE_NAME
Escape character is ^]
error: operation failed: Active console session exists for this domain

Connecting using VM id. You can obtain it with virsh list

virsh console 3

Error when no argument is provided:

virsh console
error: command 'console' requires <domain> option

Enable serial console

You need to enable serial console in your VM machine.

1) Enable serial console on VM_MACHINE:

• sudo systemctl enable --now serial-getty@ttyS0.service

2) Connect to VM:

• virsh console MACHINE

Configure KVM server

virsh edit VM_NAME

<serial type='pty'>
 <source path='/dev/pts/0'/>
 <target type='isa-serial' port='0'>
   <model name='isa-serial'/>
 </target>
 <alias name='serial0'/>
</serial>
<console type='pty' tty='/dev/pts/0'>
 <source path='/dev/pts/0'/>
 <target type='serial' port='0'/>
 <alias name='serial0'/>
</console>

Ref: https://ravada.readthedocs.io/en/latest/docs/config_console.html

Quit console

Use CTRL + 5 to exit the console.

Kill old console

ps -ef | grep console
kill -9 {PID}

Related

• virsh ttyconsole
• virsh list
• virsh start
• virsh --connect
• virsh domdisplay VM_NAME
• virsh vncdisplay VM_NAME
• /var/log/libvirt/qemu/
• virsh edit
• Console
• virt-manager

See also

• Conneting: virsh [ console | ttyconsole | domdisplay | vncdisplay ], virsh --connect, virt-manager, virt-viewer, VNC
• virsh: Storage information, Connecting, Operations, Memory, Snapshots, Networking, CPU, release notes, virsh nodedev-list

https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-to-enable-kvm-virsh-console-access-for-ubuntu-linux-vm/

https://ravada.readthedocs.io/en/latest/docs/config_console.html