Running Windows 7 Pro 32bit headless?

[crchisholm]

I have been using a KVM switch to switch between two Windows 7 computers. Some time ago, I started using TightVNC instead of the KVM because it allowed me to see both machines at the same time. Now I would like to use one of the machines "headless" using TightVNC, but if I don't have a monitor connected to the computer (or the KVM switch even if that computer is not selected) it will not complete the boot process. I'v found that if I only hook a monitor to the "headless" machine (no mouse or keyboard), it will boot all the way up. Then if I disconnect the monitor, everything works great and I am able to do what I need using TightVNC. But if the machine is restarted, I have to plug in a monitor to get through the boot process.

Any ideas how I can boot this machine even thought there is no monitor connected? Do I need some sort of loop connector to fool the machine into thinking it has a monitor attached?

 

[wasnotwas]

Many years ago I had a pc that had a 'halt on error' in the BIOS. Error could be no keyboard etc. Halt on error could be disabled. I haven't seen that BIOS item in more recent machines, but it's worth having a look in the BIOS.

It's prob no help but, I can confirm that Win7 will start and run headless. I used to have 4 * Win7 Pro headless boxes (now W10) in my little render farm. I manage them with Windows Remote Desktop. They have passwords, but are set to auto logon, so I just hit the power buttons to bootup.

 

[crchisholm]

Thanks wasnotwas

That gives me a bit of light at the end of the he tunnel. I now can be sure it's possible. I will look at the bios settings and see if I can find anything useful.

Thank you,
Charlie

 

[crchisholm]

Bingo - I think

You may have hit it on the nose. I found the setting in the bios to halt on errors and I turned it off. I think that's going to work, but now I've run into an unrelated issue with TightVNC. I need to track that down before I can test it.

thanks a lot for your suggestion.

Charlie

 

[wasnotwas]

Fingers crossed - as they say.