How can I make my Mac Mini start headless?

Question

My Mac mini doesn't boot without a monitor connected to it. As I've read in various forums on the internet, Mac OS X lets the Mac Mini boot without an attached monitor if SSH is turned on. Obviously, there's a setting in the EFI somewhere.

Is it possible to apply this setting in Linux as well?

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited May 18 '16 at 17:50

4

It's possible to buy dummy adapters, which tell the computer that there's a monitor connected.

They are quite easy to make oneself. Just use a DVI-I --> VGA adapter and connect the 2nd to the 7th pin using a 75 Ω resistor.

edited May 18 '16 at 17:50

You'reAGitForNotUsingGit

14,969

answered Nov 10 '10 at 18:04

Georg Schölly

3,741

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 15 '12 at 21:21

2

The bug is in Bootcamp. If you install grub-efi and enable it as the primary bootloader, you ran run Linux without any monitor attached.

edited Aug 15 '12 at 21:21

Eliah Kagan

119,640

answered Apr 22 '12 at 14:58

joe

21

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 10 '10 at 21:00

1

I would guess that by using the nvram command under OS X, you can poke in a value that tells it to start without a monitor. I don't know what that option would be. nvram -p might give you a clue.

answered Nov 10 '10 at 21:00

poolie

9,358

How can I make my Mac Mini start headless?

3 Answers3