r/sysadmin • u/Resident_Parfait_289 • 2h ago

Headless Remote Win10

I have a few HP Mini's deployed to remote locations that are headless and a real pain in the ass to access physically. They are running Windows 10 pro (I know!). Anyway I added a smart plug so I can remotely reboot them, but even so I regularly find they don't come back online (at least not so I can go on with Teamviewer or Tailscale).

Whenever I go out after one of these outages I find that usually its on a pre-login screen asking if I want Windows Backup or something like that.

To get around this I am seriously thinking of installing Proxmox and running Tailscale on the host or is there a better way?

I assume Proxmox would come backup cleanly after any reboot.

4 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

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u/sryan2k1 IT Manager 1h ago edited 1h ago

Stop rebooting them with a smart plug.

Do these have AMT/vPro?

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u/headcrap 1h ago

AMT was made for out-of-band management of workstations.. use that.

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u/bobdvb 1h ago

Yup, as long as they didn't cheap out and buy mini PCs that don't have it.

This is a good video introducing AMT. https://youtu.be/k909PH3Y_sk

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u/Stonewalled9999 1h ago

They likely got the lowest cheapest ones with OEM Windows home I see that a lot.

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u/lexd88 Custom 1h ago

Maybe look for a network KVM? Or some might say KVM over IP?

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u/LRS_David 1h ago

I do similar. With RDP to systems inside of a secure LAN in a data center.

I've not seen such behavior in 4 or 5 years. NOT domain joined.

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u/Entegy 1h ago

Are they not domain or Entra-joined? This is a consumer message encouraging backup. I've never seen it on a machine connected to a corporate domain.

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u/[deleted] 1h ago

[deleted]

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u/Entegy 1h ago

But you said they were Windows Pro? Are they Pro or Home?

If they're Home, upgrade them to Pro, add them to Entra for management purposes, and this problem should go away.

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u/autogyrophilia 56m ago

Glinet KVM if vPro is not an option

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u/Dave_A480 53m ago

PiKVMs

Plug in USB and HDMI to the device and you have a LOM solution for your desktop-as-server problem children

If they support vPro then MeahCentral

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u/BCIT_Richard 1h ago

Why are you getting random backup prompts prelogin? sounds like windows home edition shenanigans.