qm-terminal

Attach to a terminal

$ qm [[ter|terminal]] [100]

$ <Ctrl o>

qm terminal <vmid> [OPTIONS]

<vmid>
    The ID of the virtual machine (an integer ranging from 1 to 999999999) to which the console connection should be established.

--console
    Connects to the serial console of the virtual machine. This is often the default behavior if not specified, provided the VM has a serial port configured.

--type <console|vga>
    Explicitly specifies the type of console to connect to.
console: Connects to the serial console, suitable for text-based interactions.
vga: Connects to the graphical (VGA) console, requiring a graphical setup (like SPICE or VNC) for the VM and a compatible viewer.

--vga <integer>
    When connecting to a graphical console (using --type vga), this option specifies the VGA console ID. This is particularly useful for virtual machines configured with multiple virtual displays.

qm-terminal is a Proxmox VE command-line utility that allows users to connect directly to the console of a running virtual machine (VM). It provides a convenient way to interact with the guest operating system without needing a graphical interface or SSH access to the guest itself. This command is particularly useful for debugging, initial setup, or when network access to the guest is unavailable. It effectively acts as a serial or display console depending on the type and configuration of the virtual machine.

This command requires an active Proxmox VE installation and appropriate user permissions on the host system. The target virtual machine must be in a running state to establish a console connection. For graphical console access (via --type vga), the VM must have a graphical interface configured (e.g., SPICE or VNC) and a client capable of rendering it. Serial console access might also require specific configuration within the guest operating system for full functionality.

qm-terminal provides a direct, interactive text-based console session to the virtual machine. This is analogous to connecting a serial cable to a physical server's serial port, allowing low-level interaction with the guest operating system, even before network services are fully initialized.

It is an indispensable tool for debugging critical issues such as boot failures, network configuration problems, or when the guest operating system is unresponsive and traditional network-based access methods (like SSH) are not available.

The qm command family, including qm-terminal, is an integral part of Proxmox VE, an open-source virtualization management solution that first emerged around 2007. As Proxmox VE is built upon QEMU and KVM for virtual machine management, qm-terminal evolved to provide direct console access capabilities, adapting to the underlying virtualization technologies. It has been a core tool for managing and troubleshooting virtual machines directly from the Proxmox host since early versions of the platform.

qm(1), pct(1), ssh(1)