I recently acquired two Intel NUC5i5MYHE for my home lab. This specific model features Intel AMT/VPRO technology. This means that you can connect to the NUC remotely via IP independent of the operating system installed on it. This has several benefits
– Power On , Power Off , Reset the NUC
– Hardware information
– Remote Console access
My plan was to run the Intel NUC’s headless. I don’t have any monitor or keyboard connected to it. So I needed the AMT / VPRO technology. When I installed the NUC’s the first time they were both connected to my living room TV through HDMI. The NUC only got Mini Display Port 2 interface – so I had to use a mini display port to HDMI adapter. This worked perfectly and I also tested the AMT technology and got the remote console to work.
Once i put the NUC’s in the closet and powered them on the remote console was black. I did not get any picture when connecting. I had just seen this work when connected to my living room TV… Maybe that was the issue I thought, maybe it don’t send anything out of the display port when it does not see a monitor connected. After some google activities I found the following used for MAC minis to run them headless. It is called Fit-Headless and is a small HDMI dongle you plug-in to a HDMI port, then the MAC Mini / NUC will think a monitor is connected and remote console will work.
Of course I could not just connect this to the NUC since I did not have HDMI in it. So I also bought an adapter like this:
The result was perfect. Once I rebooted my Intel NUC’s with the display port to HDMI adapter and Fit-Headless connected I got the console back and it was not black. I use VNC View Plus that can connect directly to the IP address.
So if you want to run the NUC and use Intel AMT / VPRO you need either a monitor connected, or use a dongle that “fakes” it.