Intel Vpro Remote Control

[Martta]

InvPro 6.0 PCs with embedded Intel graphics, Intel AMT embeds a proprietary VNC Server, so you can connect out-of-band using dedicated VNC-compatible Viewer technology, and have full KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) capability throughout the power cycle - including uninterrupted control of the desktop when an operating system loads. Clients such as VNC Viewer Plus from RealVNC also >provide additional functionality that might make it easier to perform (and watch) certain Intel AMT operations, such as powering >the computer off and on, configuring the BIOS, and mounting a remote image (IDER).

In its simplest form (remember this is just to get it up and going, the more secure approach is also harder to setup initially), boot the target computer and while booting hit the F12 key to access the firmware boot manager. Then select vpro or what ever the name of the engine setup section.

If I remember right you need to enable it and then give it a user ID, or maybe just a password, where admin is the default. (sorry this part is a bit fuzzy). You need to enable the network part of vpro and I think there was an option to have it use dhcp.

Now find and download mesh commander. Its a free program. Install mesh commander and go into connect to host. Enter the IP address, user name, password you set before. Mesh commander will connect to the target computer. Once connected mesh commander acts akin to what a idrac is to a dell server. You can even remote into the computer (outside of the operating system). When you remote into the target computer, it does not prompt the user to connect. The user will see a red box around the entire screen (from what I remember). Using mesh commander you can get into the bios and make changes, reboot the computer, etc. Pretty much parallel and idrac but for a user workstation computer.

I did not see any mention above that vPro is NOT a remote access program like Splashtop, TeamViewer, etc. that lets one access a computer easily over the Internet without a VPN or port forwarding. The controlling computer MUST have access to the Intel vPro controller in the target computer, either on the LAN or via VPN, or (BAD IDEA) via port forwarding in a remote router.

IF you can use a VPN to reach target computers or your computer is on the same LAN as the vPro target, then you can control them from your own desktop. Or, if you can reach one computer on the same LAN as the target using Splashtop, TeamViewer, etc. and THAT computer has a management console (Mesh Commander, etc.), then you can use that one computer to reach vPro on others. For example, a server has the console and you can access that server.

Being able to remotely control your computer is an age old geek trick. But what about changing BIOS settings or installing an operating system remotely? With Intel AMT KMS this is within reach for any geek with the right hardware.

Intel vPro is a management platform built into Intel processors and other hardware that allows companies to manage their desktops and laptops out-of-band (OOB). That means the computers can be managed no matter if the computer in on or off, and even if the operating system has failed or there is no hard drive present.

With Core processors Intel introduced Active Management Technology (AMT) 6.0 which introduced a slew of new features including Keyboard Video Mouse (KVM) Remote Control. This means that with the right hardware configuration you have full remote access to your computer no matter what state it's in.

Most geeks are familiar with VNC software that runs inside your operating system, but Intel AMT KVM runs at a hardware level which allows you to go remote with your computer in the case of a total system failure or even without an operating system installed. Let's get started and set up Intel AMT KVM so you can go remote with your computer.

If you cannot find a logo on your computer, or you built the computer yourself, you can check to see if you have one of the following Intel Core processors. If you do, you may be able to turn on KVM so long as you have a few other requirements.

Along with the supported processor you will also need to be using Intel's embedded video and Intel network card. Both of these are required because in order to allow out-of-band communication, the KVM server needs direct access to the network interface as well and display to be able to show the connected machine exactly what is being displayed.

The first thing you will need to do is turn on BIOS verbosity. Reboot your computer and enter your BIOS configuration. Look for something labeled firmware verbosity or boot verbosity and make sure it is turned on. Likewise, if there is an option for an AMT setup prompt make sure that is turned on as well.

Restart your computer and just after the BIOS splash screen you should see a second setup screen that looks something like the image below. Push Ctrl+P at this screen to enter the Management Engine BIOS Extension (MBEx) to configure Intel AMT.

If AMT has never been set up on your computer you will be prompted for a password. Enter "admin" for the default password and you will be prompted automatically to create a new password. The new password has to have be exactly 8 characters and contain one upper case letter, one lower case letter, one number, and one symbol. Enter the new password twice to continue.

Note: For the purposes of this how-to the remote computer will need to be plugged into the network with ethernet and also plugged into power to go remote. There are options to set up wireless but we will not be going into those options here.

You will know that you are connected to the hardware based KVM server because there will be a flashing icon in the top right corner of the screen and a thin red boarder on both the remote viewer and the local client.

The free viewer will work for most remote purposes but you will lose some functionality like IDE redirect, encryption, and the ability to power the machine on and off. If you want to take advantage of more features you are going to need to pay for the RealVNC Viewer Plus ($99).

We won't show all the added benefits of RealVNC Plus in this article but it will allow you to do things like reboot directly to the BIOS and mount an .iso file to install a whole operating system remotely.

I am using the latest version of Mesh Commander and I can connect to my system remotely and view all the information available about the system. I am able to remotely control the system as well (i.e. power cycle, power off, power on, boot to bios, etc.).

I am able to use KVM Remote Control during boot up and to view the BIOS. Once Windows 10 loads, I immediately lose the remote control connection. When I try to re-establish a KVM Remote Control connection, it connects and then immediately disconnects.

Hi. Sorry for the delayed reply. I think what is going on is that Intel AMT has a maximum KVM buffer size of 8 megabytes. So, for a 4k display at 2 bytes-per-pixel, it goes over the buffer. At 1 byte-per-pixel, it fits and so, works correctly. The only workaround for this is to use a software KVM solution when the OS is up and use hardware-KVM for other times.

I am working on MeshCentral2 that supports both software and hardware KVM, so it's easy to switch between the two and software KVM will supports 4k. Of course, many other software solutions also exists.

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