Summary: When setting up a 'headless' machine, you may need to change the BIOS setting to allow it to boot without a keyboard.
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I have a PC running Windows XP that monitors our security system. Since it must reside near the security hardware I use Remote Desktop to check status, etc. I would like to configure this pc without monitor, keyboard or mouse (i.e. headless) for security and convenience, but XP refuses to boot without a monitor attached. |
A 'headless' machine is just a machine with no keyboard, mouse or monitor attached, which you access over the network only.
I've never heard of XP refusing to boot because of no monitor being attached. But there's at least one other 'catch' that could be the problem.
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Offhand, I'm not sure that there's even a way in most hardware for XP to know whether there's a monitor attached or not. If there is, it's certainly not common.
What is common is that the BIOS may fail to boot if a keyboard isn't attached. (Oddly enough, displaying "Press F1 to continue" - how you're supposed to do that when it knows you have no keyboard is beyond me.) And it's easy to miss that error if the monitor is not attached.
On more recent machines and recent BIOS's there's often a setting in the BIOS configuration that will allow you to instruct the BIOS to ignore a keyboard not present error. Look for that and set it appropriately.
On one of my older machines that's not an option, and I actually ended up connecting an old keyboard just to keep it happy and make it work.
But mouse and monitor were not required.
Article C2213 - November 2, 2004
Hi! I have the same processor, just the motherboard from Gigabyte, GA6BXE. It also won't start without a monitor attached to it (wanted to use it as a terminal server...)
It has the Intel 440bx chipset and a Nvidia TNT2 attached to it. Maybe we can find out what's going wrong.
Cheers,
Andreas
Posted by: andreas at September 15, 2005 12:19 AMStrange. I have a Dell Inspiron 8100 and is unable to read anything on the screen for more than 10 seconds. Windows XP SP2 boots allright but I have to attach a second monitor to the laptop to see anything. As long as that second monitor is there everything is fine. Remove it and you see mainly a blank LCD. Help!
Posted by: Denise at September 19, 2005 11:34 AMin xp, set the boot ini switches to include /noserialmice - this stops detection of ALL com ports, so will include keyboard and mouse, maybe this might help.
you can also set /noserialmice:comx where x is the number of the com port you wish to stop detection on
see
Posted by: matt at October 5, 2005 10:04 AMhttp://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/ddtools/hh/ddtools/BootIni_aff45176-bd02-43cf-9895-c212fa392de2.xml.asp
for more details
I have run into the same issue. I have a computer thats just network storage and a web/FTP server running windows XP. The only things plugged into it are the power and the network cable, all work on the computer is doen via remote desktop. Whenever I need to reboot it windows never finishes booting, yet if I plug a monitor in it boots fine. I got brave one day and plugged a monitor in while the system was running after I tried to boot without one just to see what was going on and there was a "OUT OF RANGE" error on the screen. Hit the reset switch and it booted up fine. The computer refuses to boot without a monitor attached to it. Rolling around on the floor after every time I want to reboot the system isnt much fun.
Been thinking about buying a KVM but everyone I know with one complains about how they make the screen fuzzy.
Posted by: Joe at November 1, 2005 3:37 PMI had a similar problem, where a system fails to boot without a monitor. On connecting a monitor I found the machine waiting at the Video BIOS output. Changing the video card from a NVidia Geforce to a 3dfx Voodoo PCI that was sitting about solved it. Maybe it's down to the video card manufacturers whether they check for a monitor or not!
Posted by: Gareth at November 21, 2005 2:54 PM"The resolutions available are a function of your graphics card, NOT the monitor. Some (very few) cards can detect the monitor type, but most cannot."
Nearly every card detects the monitor type by using DDC. This works over DVI and VGA. Both the graphics card and the monitor have to support it. However, at least the vintage S3 can detect the monitor's specification and therefore exclude inappropriate scanmodes. If no monitor is attached, the graphics card will stick to the last used resolution.
Newer graphics cards will do kind of plug'n'play with DVI devices. Reconnecting the display will yield the typical Windows plug'n'play "bling-bling" sound, and adjusts the resolution accordingly.
PS: Why do I need to turn on JS in order to post?
Posted by: Alex at January 31, 2006 1:49 AM"Why do I need to turn on JS in order to post?"
Comment spam prevention.
Posted by: Leo at January 31, 2006 10:27 AMI have the same problem and have no monitor to connect.
I do see a link for how to stop COM port detection, but the link is not working.
Can anybody either post instructions or a new link where these instructions may be available.
Posted by: AV at March 11, 2006 12:45 AMWell, I can boot without a monitor, but running a remote administration session to the XP machine gives only 800x600 resolution. It seems impossible to change this. The monitor I'm running on the other end definitively can display a higher resolution.
Posted by: Staffan Ungsgard at April 25, 2007 12:30 AMSigh... Do I really need to put a monitor in the closet just to be able to change the screen resolution.
I can boot without monitor or keyboard (I have an old machine acting as a file server & print server that I VNC to) - when booting it comes up 'Keyboard error', goes on to a summary of memory and drives that invites me to 'press any key to continue' (?) then after 30 seconds carries on booting anyway. There's nothing in the BIOS to switch off the keyboard requirement, so I suppose there's an inbuilt timeout - it's 'Phoenix BIOS' by the way.
Posted by: Jason at December 17, 2008 6:54 AM