Can a pc boot without a monitor connected?

ivorhooper

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I ask this because I have my dbox downstairs and my pc upstairs. I have another pc that is about 4 years old with no monitor. Would it be possible to stick the pc behind the sofa downstairs, network with the dbox so I can record/stream onto/from it but without having a monitor connected.
I know I would have to get a tv out graphics card but will it boot up just connected to the tv?
It would just become a recording/playback device then and you would just have to turn it on in the morning at the same time as the dbox.
 
Last edited:
A pc will boot without a monitor - no problem with that!

When connecting to a tv you'd probably need to set the monitor up the first time and clone it's picture to the tv.

From the 2nd boot you can remove the monitor and use the pc as your recorder.
 
thanks for that.
I only asked as my pc upstairs will not boot without a monitor. It says no display adaptor installed or something like that.
 
do u have a router because you can controle the pc without the monitor by remote eg, RDP or pcanywhere.

Fermec
 
yes i have a router upstairs. will get a wifi card and tv card for the second pc and give it all a bash.
 
TV card

U dont need a tv card in your pc to stream video to and from the dbox. Just a crossover ethernet cable and an ethernet post on the pc
 
pk041468 said:
U dont need a tv card in your pc to stream video to and from the dbox. Just a crossover ethernet cable and an ethernet post on the pc
Aye, but I would like to have the option of using the tv out in case I need to change any setting on the pc without having to cart my monitor downstairs - just until I can get vlc installed on it.
 
PC will boot without monitor as long as the bios is set to not holt on vga errors. if this is the case you may have to disable this option :)

Capdan
 
Just another quick question on the subject.
I want to record using the direct method. I have created a new user on XP pro, the only problem is that you need to select the user when you first boot up. If I dont attatch a monitor then I won't be able to select the user.
Is is possible to boot straight into the default user without having to select?

cheers
 
ivorhooper said:
Just another quick question on the subject.
I want to record using the direct method. I have created a new user on XP pro, the only problem is that you need to select the user when you first boot up. If I dont attatch a monitor then I won't be able to select the user.
Is is possible to boot straight into the default user without having to select?

cheers

I do this:)
You do not need to login, thus do not need a monitor if you have it setup correctly.

My personal setup.
VNC - setup as a service on the PC
VLC - Setup as a service on the PC

Since both are services you do not need to login to the PC as they start instantly windows loads up by themselves.

As for recording direct method, which is what I do.
When mounting the drive or directory which contains your movies etc... there is a section for username/password in the mount settings. Put your pc user name & password in here and the dbox will login/mount those drives/directories automatically.
 
you can boot direct into xp without seeing the welcome logon screen
click start/run then type "control userpasswords2" without the speech marks then highlight the user you want to log on the uncheck the box above saying users must use a username and password to log onto this computer

hope this helps somebody even if your sorted

userpasswords2 is all one word
 
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