Users Guide

If you change the CD in the client system, the new CD may have an autostart feature. In this case, the firmware can time out
and the connection is lost if the client system takes too long to read the CD. If a connection is lost, reconnect from the GUI
and continue the previous operation.
If the Virtual Media configuration settings are changed in the iDRAC web interface or through local RACADM commands, any
connected media is disconnected when the configuration change is applied.
To reconnect to the Virtual Drive, use the Virtual Media Client View window.
Why does a Windows operating system installation through Virtual Media take an extended amount of time?
If you are installing the Windows operating system using the Dell Systems Management Tools and Documentation DVD and the
network connection is slow, the installation procedure may require an extended amount of time to access iDRAC web interface
due to network latency. The installation window does not indicate the installation progress.
How to configure the virtual device as a bootable device?
On the managed system, access BIOS Setup and go to the boot menu. Locate the virtual CD, virtual floppy, or vFlash and
change the device boot order as required. Also, press the "spacebar" key in the boot sequence in the CMOS setup to make the
virtual device bootable. For example, to boot from a CD drive, configure the CD drive as the first device in the boot order.
What are the types of media that can be set as a bootable device?
iDRAC allows you to boot from the following bootable media:
CDROM/DVD Data media
ISO 9660 image
1.44 Floppy disk or floppy image
A USB key that is recognized by the operating system as a removable disk
A USB key image
How to make the USB key a bootable device?
You can also boot with a Windows 98 startup disk and copy system files from the startup disk to the USB key. For example,
from the DOS prompt, type the following command:
sys a: x: /s
where, x: is the USB key that is required to be set as a bootable device.
The Virtual Media is attached and connected to the remote floppy. But, cannot locate the Virtual Floppy/Virtual CD
device on a system running Red Hat Enterprise Linux or the SUSE Linux operating system. How to resolve this?
Some Linux versions do not auto-mount the virtual floppy drive and the virtual CD drive in the same method. To mount the
virtual floppy drive, locate the device node that Linux assigns to the virtual floppy drive. To mount the virtual floppy drive:
1. Open a Linux command prompt and run the following command:
grep "Virtual Floppy" /var/log/messages
2. Locate the last entry to that message and note the time.
3. At the Linux prompt, run the following command:
grep "hh:mm:ss" /var/log/messages
where, hh:mm:ss is the time stamp of the message returned by grep in step 1.
4. In step 3, read the result of the grep command and locate the device name that is given to the Virtual Floppy.
5. Make sure that you are attached and connected to the virtual floppy drive.
6. At the Linux prompt, run the following command:
mount /dev/sdx /mnt/floppy
where, /dev/sdx is the device name found in step 4 and /mnt/floppy is the mount point.
To mount the virtual CD drive, locate the device node that Linux assigns to the virtual CD drive. To mount the virtual CD drive:
1. Open a Linux command prompt and run the following command:
grep "Virtual CD" /var/log/messages
2. Locate the last entry to that message and note the time.
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Frequently asked questions