Dell IDRAC6 manual Windows-Based Management Station, 256

Using Virtual Media, administrators can remotely boot their managed servers, install applications, update drivers, or even install new operating systems remotely from the virtual CD/DVD and diskette drives.

NOTE: Virtual media requires a minimum available network bandwidth of 128 Kbps.

Virtual media defines two devices for the managed server’s operating system and BIOS: a floppy disk device and an optical disk device.

The management station provides the physical media or image file across the network. When Virtual Media is attached or auto-attached, all virtual CD/floppy drive access requests from the managed server are directed to the management station across the network. Connecting Virtual Media is the equivalent of inserting media into physical devices on the managed system. When Virtual Media is in attached state, virtual devices on the managed system appear as two drives without the media being installed in the drives.

Table 14-1 lists the supported drive connections for virtual floppy and virtual optical drives.

NOTE: Changing Virtual Media while connected could stop the system boot sequence.

Table 14-1. Supported Drive Connections

Supported Virtual Floppy Drive	Supported Virtual Optical Drive
Connections	Connections
Legacy 1.44 floppy drive with a 1.44	CD-ROM, DVD, CDRW, combination
floppy diskette	drive with CD-ROM media
USB floppy drive with a 1.44 floppy	CD-ROM/DVD image file in the ISO9660
diskette	format
1.44 floppy image	USB CD-ROM drive with CD-ROM
	media
USB removable disk

Windows-Based Management Station

To run the Virtual Media feature on a management station running the Microsoft Windows operating system, install a supported version of Internet Explorer or Firefox with Java Runtime Environment (JRE).

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Configuring and Using Virtual Media