Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
When setting up a 'headless' machine, you may need to change the BIOS setting to allow it to boot without a keyboard.
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.
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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 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
January 31, 2006 1:49 AM
"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?
January 31, 2006 10:27 AM
"Why do I need to turn on JS in order to post?"
Comment spam prevention.
March 11, 2006 12:45 AM
I 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.
April 25, 2007 12:30 AM
Well, 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.
Sigh... Do I really need to put a monitor in the closet just to be able to change the screen resolution.
December 17, 2008 6:54 AM
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.