I want to build my own home lab, but i'm totally blind. Problem, I cannot modify any BIOS settings.

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unix_fan

New Member
Sep 3, 2023
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Hi. Already posted this somewhere else, but thought i'd get feedback here as well. I've been looking to build myself an SFF system, at least initially. putting the hardware together isn't the issue, rather, its my inability to change any settings on the board itself without visual assistance. Generally, most operating systems come with TTS software installed, but motherboards do not. This means something as simple as changing the boot order simply isn't possible for me.

There are motherboards with a web GUI, but i'm not sure how accessible those would bewith a screen reader. What do you think.
 
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pcmoore

pcmoore

Active Member
Apr 14, 2018
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Hi, and welcome. I'm not sure I have a solid answer for you, just some things to try and I suspect you've probably already looked into these ideas, but just in case here are a few thoughts that may be helpful:

1. If the system in question supports IPMI you may be able to use a second computer, with a screen reader, to access the BIOS or UEFI setup using an IPMI Serial Over LAN (SOL) connection. I'm not sure how common IPMI support is on SFF systems, or how well a BIOS or UEFI configuration menu would "render" on a screen reader, but it might be something to pursue.

2. Option #1 (above) is the best idea I could come up with, but if that doesn't work, and you have something that can perform a screen capture of the system in question (I'm thinking along the lines of those HDMI-to-USB dongles that allow you to connect a camera to your computer as a webcam), would it be possible to run the screen capture through an OCR program and then feed that into your screen reader?

My apologies if both these options are non-starters for reasons I'm missing (I will admit option #2 is pretty ugly), but hopefully someone else here will have some better answers. Good luck!
 
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sullivan

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Mar 27, 2016
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BIOS boot order is especially frustrating because some OSes like Windows will change UEFI settings during updates or wipe out your boot loader.

You might consider keeping all of your bootable operating systems on removable media and simply physically swapping disks to control which one boots. Generally, if the BIOS only sees one bootable OS -- it will boot into that one automatically. Most other BIOS settings (like DDR configuration) can be set once and left as-is or changed only very rarely.

If you have modern HW and BIOS (in the last 5 years) then Windows 10 runs great on a USB SSD like a Samsung T7. All Linux/BSD based OSes are also fine on USB installs, and so is Apple MacOS if you want to run a hackintosh. For Windows 10, the easiest way to get running on a USB disk is to install on a SATA disk and either physically move the disk into a USB enclosure, or use disk imaging SW to copy it.

You could also use removable SATA disks with trays like those made by Icydock.

If you have data storage disks (like for media / music / movies, or software) you can leave those permanently installed in the system. Just make sure that an OS installer does not try to put a boot loader on them when you install a new OS.
 
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unix_fan

New Member
Sep 3, 2023
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sullivan said:
BIOS boot order is especially frustrating because some OSes like Windows will change UEFI settings during updates or wipe out your boot loader.

You might consider keeping all of your bootable operating systems on removable media and simply physically swapping disks to control which one boots. Generally, if the BIOS only sees one bootable OS -- it will boot into that one automatically. Most other BIOS settings (like DDR configuration) can be set once and left as-is or changed only very rarely.

If you have modern HW and BIOS (in the last 5 years) then Windows 10 runs great on a USB SSD like a Samsung T7. All Linux/BSD based OSes are also fine on USB installs, and so is Apple MacOS if you want to run a hackintosh. For Windows 10, the easiest way to get running on a USB disk is to install on a SATA disk and either physically move the disk into a USB enclosure, or use disk imaging SW to copy it.

You could also use removable SATA disks with trays like those made by Icydock.

If you have data storage disks (like for media / music / movies, or software) you can leave those permanently installed in the system. Just make sure that an OS installer does not try to put a boot loader on them when you install a new OS.
Click to expand...
I have a lot of experience with usb boot, thanks to using macs as a daily driver. Macos recovery is accessible, so I would just set it to boot from usb when I needed.

Main problem with usb is that it only takes one disconnection to bring everything down. Had this happen far to many times which is why I stopped doing it. things run great on the t7, but I prefer not using it as boot.
 
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RolloZ170

Well-Known Member
Apr 24, 2016
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motherboards from MSI include a AMISCE package. with this CLI app you can read BIOS settings, and set in Windows.
SCEWIN is the App for windows then.
Note: Not only for MSI motherboards but only with AMI BIOS and not all are supported by some reason.
there is a SCEWIN on Github : this is not the latest official but can work.
 
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RolloZ170

Well-Known Member
Apr 24, 2016
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another idea:
on supermicro motherboards with BMC you can use IPMICFG CLI uility.
i.e.
IPMICFG.exe –soft <index>

Initiates a soft-shutdown for OS and forces system to boot from the
selected device.

: This is the list of index options for a reboot device.
1 PXE
2 Hard-drive
3 CD/DVD
4 Bios
5 USB KEY
6 USB HDD
7 USB Floppy
8 USB CD/DVD
9 UEFI Hard-drive
10 UEFI CD/DVD
11 UEFI USB KEY
12 UEFI USB HDD
13 UEFI USB CD/DVD
14 UEFI PXE
 
BeTeP

BeTeP

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2019
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Also changing UEFI boot order is very easy from any OS.
 
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