Getting a text console on linux guests
Check the xml of the guest has correct entries, something like this:
<serial type='pty'>
<target port='0'/>
</serial> <console type='pty'>
<target type='serial' port='0'/>
</console>
In the guest, edit /etc/default/grub to include the line:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="console=ttyS0"
I've also got:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text"
but that may not be strictly necessary.
These steps should permit you to see the boot messages from a console,
(ie virsh console <domain>) but at least under debian you won't get a login
prompt until you tell the system to provide one, by editing /etc/inittab
and removing the comment on the line:
T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100
you can get init to reread this file once you've edited it by executing
init q which should then spawn a prompt, if you already have a
console session open.