# Headless... Completely headless

## byrnerat101

Ok i have an old 700 mhz athlon machine with a good size hardrive in it and it would be perfect for a small personal web and mail server, but it doesn't have a video card... Im a bit of a cheep person and would like to not buy a card if I don't have to... I have a few other machines on the network so ssh or other remote control protocals wouldn't be a problem, but is there any way to get the machine running enough by itslef to get it to a point where i could run ssh on it?

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## NeddySeagoon

byrnerat101,

If you can make it boot the CD, change the root password and start sshd by typing blind, you are off.

It may be better to borrow a video card until you have completed stage 3.

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## schism39401

You will have to have a video card in long enough to boot the livecd and start ssh...iirc ssh isn't started by default on the livecd...

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## nyteryda

There maybe a CD Distro that runs sshd as default or maybe you could edit one and you will need a DCHP server of some kind too to make net setup automatic

if you can't find a Disto And/Or don't have a DCHP server 

another option may be to write a script and place it one a floppy disk (or the edit the Gentoo ISO) to setup change password setup Networking and run sshd

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## nyteryda

SLAX

http://slax.linux-live.org/

Runs sshd as default uses DCHP and boots with no questions (on my machine anyway I just check)

*** edit ***

user: root

password : toor 

(since you can't see  :Smile: 

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## byrnerat101

Ok on the knoppix site there is a script to start it atomaticly and change passwords and start ssh but its pretty complex, so im downloading slax atm ill let you know the results thanks for the quick responces.

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## nobspangle

I've never tried booting a PC without a video card but I was under the impression that without one it wouldn't boot. Otherwise I would expect computers to boot with broken video cards, but they don't they just give a POST error and stop.

If this isn't the case it's pretty easy to boot the live CD then change the password and start sshd.

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## nyteryda

 *nobspangle wrote:*   

> I've never tried booting a PC without a video card but I was under the impression that without one it wouldn't boot. Otherwise I would expect computers to boot with broken video cards, but they don't they just give a POST error and stop.
> 
> If this isn't the case it's pretty easy to boot the live CD then change the password and start sshd.

 

I think it may depend on your motherboard and or bios

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## NeddySeagoon

nyteryda,

Yes. Set the bios to stop on no errors.

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## byrnerat101

Now that wil be a problem headless .....

Any suggestions

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## nyteryda

 *byrnerat101 wrote:*   

> Now that wil be a problem headless .....
> 
> Any suggestions

 

You mean your bios is not already setup to allow you to boot ?

erh if thats the case Me thinks you are screwed...

1) either you will be very very very luck and your bios is too dumb to notice or already set or hitting Enter a few times makes it go forward anyway?

2) there maybe a jumpper on your mother board you can set

3) else you will have to stick a card in to see your BIOS (unless you have the exact same PC somewhere else and you can do it blind)

erh just see what happens when you try and boot....

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## nobspangle

F1 usually let's you skip past errors but I don't fancy your chances. I'd steal a card from another PC untill you get it running

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## byrnerat101

Dude slax doesn't even have ssh included with it let alone enabled by default... But on a good note it does boot and gives me no errors because i hear it spin up the cd and it spins for a long time like its booting and i can see the ip adress show up in the network... Now all I need is to find some way to boot knoppix or the gentoo live cd so that ill have ssh running... Any ideas?

***Edit***

ssh is included but not started by default on the newer versions of slax... no i need to type blind and hope i get it running   :Rolling Eyes: 

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## LeTene

Just do the blind typing thing. Boot the LiveCD, and after you are sure it has got an IP address (I assume you know what it is since you mention being able to "see" it on the network). Here's the command sequence:

```
passwd

<type in a password>

<retype in password>

/etc/init.d/sshd start
```

This sets up a root password, and starts the SSH daemon.

Now you can do an ssh -l root <the ip address> from your main box, and give the password you just created. Voila!

If you dont want to ssh to root, then do this blind as well after creating the root password as above:

```
useradd <username> -m -G users,wheel -s /bin/bash

passwd <username>

<type user password>

<retype user password>
```

Now you can ssh -l <username> <ip address>, enter the user password and the su to get r00t  :Razz: .

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## byrnerat101

LeTene: Yea I just did that after talking to some people on irc lol thanks... that did the trick.. im compiling my kernel as we speak. I think I might want to make a post in documents, tips and tricks section... What do you guys think... Is it worthy ?

***Edit***

Ok it boots off the livecd fine and everything runs... but it doesn't boot by itself.. it never gets online.. I have no idea where it stops though because its headles... Is there any whay to put all input into a file so i can look at it when I run the livecd?

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## nyteryda

 *byrnerat101 wrote:*   

> Dude slax doesn't even have ssh included with it let alone enabled by default... But on a good note it does boot and gives me no errors because i hear it spin up the cd and it spins for a long time like its booting and i can see the ip adress show up in the network... Now all I need is to find some way to boot knoppix or the gentoo live cd so that ill have ssh running... Any ideas?
> 
> ***Edit***
> 
> ssh is included but not started by default on the newer versions of slax... no i need to type blind and hope i get it running  

 

Man I'm sorry to give you extra work,   :Crying or Very sad: 

it was just the version I have did it all for you, i was trying too make your life easier not harder...

As far as kernel messages go... you may find some thing usefull in /var/log/messages (once you are in chroot enviroment of corse)

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## byrnerat101

nyteryda: No worries man   :Wink:   I like slax anyway haha im gunna keep this one handy. But after seing the multitude of install mistakes such as spelling errors and such ive decided to reinstall... which really isnt all that hard now that i know i can type blind and get it to work... This is a rather fun project..

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## nyteryda

do you know what was wrong with your kernel ?

(if you got it right in the end don't forget to backup the .config to make it easier in reinstall  :Wink: 

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## byrnerat101

Im not sure if it was something wrong with the kernel or not... thats why im reinstalling.. it sounded (by listning to hardrive) like it got throught bios and stoped... So i have to think it was eaither a grub or kernel issue.

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## NeddySeagoon

byrnerat101,

How long did you wait ?

Grub has a 30 second pause built in to allow you to choose a kernel. 30 seconds is an age on a headless box where you can't watch the count. Just press return, if you have a keyboard (and access).

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## byrnerat101

i turned the wait time to 1 sec .... that shouldnt be the issue....

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## byrnerat101

well i finally broke down.... went and bought a crappy vid card n put it in... turned out to be  bios hard-drive mapping weirdness.... Switched my ide cables and all is well. Im now running completely headless lol... That shouldn't have been that hard... i would do it again   :Very Happy: 

Thanks for all your help.

~pat

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