I recently added the "Debug" board to my EX485, the full version with VGA/Serial/PS2.

On first boot after adding the board, my 485 tried to boot the recovery environment from the internal USB flash device.

I was able to get into the BIOS (obviously) and change the boot order, but now my recovery drive is visible inside WHS, which I'd rather not have. I know better than to mess with it, but I just don't want it there.

In the BIOS I found an option for the USB drive, "Auto/Enabled/Disabled." I assume that normally having it in Auto is what allows the front-panel button to invoke recovery mode. When you have the BIOS jumper closed for KVM access, does this make "Auto" mean "Enabled"?

IOW, should I just put the setting back to Disabled? Will this make the front panel button not work? (Not that it's really a major issue given that I have KVM access, but you see what I'm getting at.)

If your seeing the SMI Area within WHS then the HPMediaSmart Service may not be running. When this service is running it will hide the SMI area.

So check the services to see if its running or not running. Also check your event logs to see if the service was prevented from starting which would show up as an error. I know on the EX470 if this service is not working you will lose thing like your drive lights and if I recall properly the health indicators will also stop functioning properly.

Since you currently can see the files within that area I would take the time to make a copy of them and keep them in a safe location. Should that area become corrupted you can take your copy and place them on a Bootable USB Flash Drive and use that to boot your server into recovery mode.

As you already understand do not write or modify anything in there it is an important part of your servers function for performing server recoveries. Again should that fail you can boot your server into recovery mode using the a Bootable USB Flash Drive.

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Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

I'm pretty sure the HP service was running, because the lights were fine and I've never had issues with it in the past.

I'm more concerned with the fact that after hooking up the "KVM" cable to the debug port and closing the appropriate jumper, the SMI flash was enabled and the system attempted to boot it (even though I never pressed the recovery button).

I'm trying to ascertain if this is normal behavior after attaching the KVM cable.