Package: libvirt libvirt-daemon 5.0.0-1 qemu 1:3.1+dfsg-4 virt-manager 1:2.0.0-3
# uname -a Linux unassigned-hostname 4.19.0-2-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.16-1 (2019-01-17) x86_64 GNU/Linux Steps to reproduce: 1. Create a libvirt Virtual Network with tftp server configured. Example XML: # virsh net-dumpxml pxe-nat <network> <name>pxe-nat</name> <forward mode='nat'> <nat> <port start='1024' end='65535'/> </nat> </forward> <bridge name='virbr0' stp='on' delay='0'/> <mac address='52:54:00:53:7d:8e'/> <ip address='192.168.122.1' netmask='255.255.255.0'> <tftp root='/var/lib/libvirt/pxe-config'/> <dhcp> <range start='192.168.122.2' end='192.168.122.254'/> <bootp file='pxe.cfg'/> </dhcp> </ip> </network 2. Create the IPXE configuration file with some dummy message to expect in the serial console. # cat /var/lib/libvirt/pxe-config/pxe.cfg #!ipxe echo Rebooting in 60 seconds sleep 60 reboot 3. Create a guest OS with no disks, configured to have network as boot device. The following virt-install command can be used: virt-install --name test-1 --pxe --network network=pxe-nat --boot useserial=yes --console log.file=/tmp/serial.txt --disk none --memory 500 Expected results: The /tmp/serial file should be populated with the ipxe logs. Additional info: journalctl -u libvirtd doesn't have any errors/warnings. The debian host is actually a VM, with kvm module not loaded, thus I am using qemu emulation for the nested guest. Note tha the issue is not related to the serial console to file redirection. If we don't speficy file type for console and just run the command like this: virt-install --name test-1 --pxe --network network=pxe-nat --boot useserial=yes --nographics --disk none --memory 500 we still will not see the PXE logs in the terminal. Let me know if I can provide with additional files for debugging.