diff --git a/tests/vm/basevm.py b/tests/vm/basevm.py
index 8400b0e..c53fd35 100644
--- a/tests/vm/basevm.py
+++ b/tests/vm/basevm.py
@@ -213,6 +213,9 @@
     def console_init(self, timeout = 120):
         vm = self._guest
         vm.console_socket.settimeout(timeout)
+        self.console_raw_path = os.path.join(vm._temp_dir,
+                                             vm._name + "-console.raw")
+        self.console_raw_file = open(self.console_raw_path, 'wb')
 
     def console_log(self, text):
         for line in re.split("[\r\n]", text):
@@ -234,6 +237,9 @@
         while True:
             try:
                 chars = vm.console_socket.recv(1)
+                if self.console_raw_file:
+                    self.console_raw_file.write(chars)
+                    self.console_raw_file.flush()
             except socket.timeout:
                 sys.stderr.write("console: *** read timeout ***\n")
                 sys.stderr.write("console: waiting for: '%s'\n" % expect)