setup of a headless-system: boot without a keyboard, mouse, screen

By tarifa
in Hardware Hangout

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tarifa

Posted
Posted

hi there - good day dear community

 

 

the question of  today: setup of a headless-system: boot without a keyboard, mouse, screen

 

 

I recently put together a pc to use as a server.

 

 

The pc uses an GigaByte B460 HD3 mainboard.

 

the system should be able to boot with

- having no keyboard attached.

- having no screen attached

- having no mouse attached

 

 

question: Do i have to do some  BIOS change here… or so I thought?

As far as I can tell from examining every setting in the BIOS is that the system allready is able to boot - with or without keyboard attached...  

in other words - it does not matter if i

 

- connect the keyboard or disconnect it....

 

Anyone know of a way to make sure that this will work surely - and what about the setup that takes care that all boots well with

 

- having no screen attached

- having no mouse attached



Note: i need to have a setup that is able to propperly boot with any of the devices above mentioned:

in other words: i  need  the computer will be able to boot without the mouse and monitor and the keyboard.

 

Do i need to have to enter BIOS to change settings to achieve this behavior,


Some friends mentioned: You will have to plug in the monitor to see what is going on. Once you have it booting without the mouse and keyboard, then unhook the monitor.

 

btw: we can call this a headless-system: 

 

cf: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headless_computer: A headless computer is a computer system or device that has been configured to operate without a monitor (the missing "head"), keyboard, and mouse. A headless system is typically controlled over a network connection,

 

 

look forward to hear from you

Grand Master

Sulphy

Posted
Posted

You will need a keyboard. mouse and screen to get your system setup, and prep it for RDP when you need to.

I do that already for my plex server. So, it also depends on your operating system. If windows, you will have to allow logon without user intervention, you will get security risk flags.

I also have a dongle that imitates a screen plugged in, which is needed for transcoding in my case.

 

Proficient

tarifa

Posted
  • Author
Posted

hello dear sulphy - many many thanks -  the question is. 

 

do i need to do some settings  in the bios to achieve the headless config . or in other words - to set up the behavior that the system boots with out any keyboard

 

 

Proficient

tarifa

Posted
  • Author
Posted

hello many many thanks for the quick answer.

well generally the system shold say ... after booting.

no os found - since there is no os on the drive...(allready installed)

see the start of the system...

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPg3RAsXWpUAx7KdTuzM0L7zv5iTRrx8S2yjBLCEh1nSXf5hEj-X1aLRaJHtxhfYA/photo/AF1QipPG27nQI1KPlVCmLYtUwQODFp-xsCCZcx85go6t?key=LXkzeWY5UWxYcEcxS3hTcWFYZjFxajQ5QThuMU93

Grand Master

DaveLegg Developer

Posted
  • Developer
Posted
  On 02/09/2020 at 11:22, tarifa said:

As far as I can tell from examining every setting in the BIOS is that the system allready is able to boot - with or without keyboard attached...  

Expand  

This may seem like a crazy idea, but how about you just unplug the keyboard/mouse/screen and press the power button and see what happens!

Grand Master

goretsky Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

Hello,


You can plug a CRU Mouse Jiggler MJ-3 into an available USB port to simulate the presence of a mouse. 

Search Amazon (or your favorite online marketplace) for "HDMI+Dummy+Plug" for devices to simulate the presence of an HDMI monitor.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

Grand Master

n_K

Posted
Posted (edited)

Some motherboard firmwares of the 90s would prevent booting if there was no keyboard, it'd give an error like "No keyboard detected. Press F1 to continue" and yes that message really was as silly as it sounded. Motherboards of today should be fine.

  • Mindovermaster
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Proficient

tarifa

Posted
  • Author
Posted

good day dear Mindovermaster, DaveLegg, Sulphy, Jared-, goretsky, n_K, good day


first of all: many thanks for your reply - great to hear from you .  


note: i want to make sure that the system is remote-admin-ready 


in other words: we need a Remote Server Administration. 


my friend does take care for the remote admin job. The machine goes into a colocation center - there i am going to replace the old server. 
note; this old server has got two hdds with the operating sytem on it. 

at the moment i just want to make sure that all is set in place so that i did not miss anything in the preliminary steps.  In other words: i am pretty sure that 
the machine is able to get administered remotely.. /(after being placed in the colo-center ... and of course after the two hdds (with the os)...

Mindovermaster: As I understand it, It's on the OS side, nothing to do with your BIOS/EUFI.

thanks Mindovermaster: well i think all goes well now. 


DaveLegg:This may seem like a crazy idea, but how about you just unplug the keyboard/mouse/screen and press the power button and see what happens!

yupp: youre right DaveLegg. 


Sulphy: You will need a keyboard. mouse and screen to get your system setup, and prep it for RDP when you need to.
I do that already for my plex server. So, it also depends on your operating system. If windows, you will have to allow logon without user intervention, you will get security risk flags.
I also have a dongle that imitates a screen plugged in, which is needed for transcoding in my .....

Sulphy. well i think that the setup goes okay.. - see below. 


Jared: This isn't anything complex.... I've been doing this for years.

thank you Jared for encouraging me. 


goretsky: ou can plug a CRU Mouse Jiggler MJ-3 into an available USB port to simulate the presence of a mouse. 
Search Amazon (or your favorite online marketplace) for "HDMI+Dummy+Plug" for devices to simulate the presence of an HDMI monitor.


n_K: Some motherboard firmwares of the 90s would prevent booting if there was no keyboard, it'd give an error like "No keyboard detected. Press F1 to continue" and yes that message really was as silly as it sounded. Motherboards of today should be fine

n_k right - i fully agree;)

 

 

 

i just gathered some materials form the Mainboard  the GigaByte B460 HD 3  - https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_b460-hd3_e_v1.pdf 

 

how do you like this.!? 

 

 

 

__###___bios__1.jpg

__####___bios_2.jpg

Grand Master

Nick H. Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted
  On 05/09/2020 at 10:17, tarifa said:

well generally the system shold say ... after booting.

no os found - since there is no os on the drive...(allready installed)

Expand  

I'm not sure that I follow. With what you have written here you will receive the same message regardless of if there is a mouse, keyboard and monitor attached or not.

 

You can't power up the computer and remotely connect to the BIOS. You need to have an OS installed before you can do anything with the computer (other than using it as a large paperweight).

Proficient

tarifa

Posted
  • Author
Posted

good day dear nick 


 

  Quote

 

my friend does take care for the remote admin job. The machine goes into a colocation center - there i am going to replace the old server. 
note; this old server has got two hdds with the operating sytem on it. 

at the moment i just want to make sure that all is set in place so that i did not miss anything in the preliminary steps.  In other words: i am pretty sure that 
the machine is able to get administered remotely.. /(after being placed in the colo-center ... and of course after the two hdds (with the os)...

Mindovermaster: As I understand it, It's on the OS side, nothing to do with your BIOS/EUFI.

thanks Mindovermaster: well i think all goes well now. 

 

Expand  

 

sure thing - youre right 

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