The error message in VMware (Workstation or Fusion) most commonly occurs because support for ThinPrint (virtual printing) has been discontinued in recent versions like Workstation 17.5 and Fusion 13.5 . Primary Fixes Remove the Printer Device (Easiest Method): Shut down the virtual machine. Go to VM Settings > Hardware tab. Select the Printer device and click Remove . Click OK and restart the VM.
: If the serial port is configured to connect to a physical host port, a named pipe, or a specific file that is currently unavailable or inaccessible, the VM will power on with the device disconnected to prevent a full boot failure. Resolution Strategies Disable Virtual Printing : The most common fix is to navigate to Edit > Preferences > Devices in VMware Workstation and uncheck "Enable virtual printers" Modify VM Settings : Right-click the affected VM, go to , select the Serial Port device, and uncheck "Connect at power on" virtual device serial0 will start disconnected
: If your VM was created in an older version, it still has "Printer" enabled in its settings, but the hypervisor no longer knows how to connect it. How to fix it Option 1: The Easy Way (Settings Menu) Power off the virtual machine. Virtual Machine Settings (or right-click the VM > Settings). Select the device from the hardware list. The error message in VMware (Workstation or Fusion)
When a virtual machine starts with the warning it typically means the VM is trying to initialize a serial port that is either misconfigured, pointing to a non-existent physical resource, or linked to a legacy feature that is no longer supported. Core Causes of the Warning Select the Printer device and click Remove
, a technology that allows a virtual machine to use the host's printers. When VMware can't find the necessary driver on the host or the feature is turned off in the main preferences, it alerts you that the device won't be active during the session [ Are you currently using a