Booting Dell Servers From External USB

Device

Mark Maclean March 2015

The following slides contain screen shots from a Dell server All 13gen models ending “30” eg R730 & 12 gen models ending “20” eg R720 behave the same but some text may be slight different.

This deck also incudes a “Trouble shooting & Tips” section at rear .

Dell Server “Power on boot / Post “ screen

Connect USB device & power up the server

Dell Server “Power on boot / Post “ screen

Press <F10> to enter embedded “Lifecycle Controller”

Dell Server “Power on boot / Post “ screen

Select “ OS Deployment”

Dell Server “Lifecycle Controller “ screen

Select “Go directly to OS deployment”

Dell Server “Lifecycle Controller “ screen

Check summary screen & click “Finish” button

Dell Server “Lifecycle Controller “ screen

Select OS to be deployed (to access correct drive pack)

Dell Server “Lifecycle Controller “ screen

Select “BIOS” boot mode& “Manuel” install mode

Dell Server “Lifecycle Controller “ screen

Check summary screen & click “Finish” buttonServer will re-start & boot from USB attached “install DVD”

Dell Server “Lifecycle Controller “ screen

Trouble Shooting & Tips

Is The Server Recognising The USB Device ?

Note if booting from USB device (no lifecycle drivers access) then select / click on boot device required (not the “finish” button)

Select <F11> “BIOS boot manager” menu Check if USB device is displayed on “select” menu

Using Drac Virtual Media

The idrac support virtual media EG remote dvd or ISO image These are the four basic steps to bootServer from a ISO image of a windows DVD