iDRAC keyboard not working

Can you check setting of "Keyboard/Mouse Attach State" attribute on Virtual Console page. It need to be in "Auto-attach" or "Attached" state. Is your mouse movements and clicks is working through virtual console? You can also trying resetting iDRAC and try the same.

As I mentioned before, I have tried virtually EVERYTHING in google searches, and yes, it is set to Attached. There is not an option for "Auto Attach", only attached.

I have some additional info that may help. The keyboard DOES work up until the point where ESXi loads. If I interrupt the boot by hitting F2 to enter BIOS, that all works and the keyboard works fine. It is only when ESXi loads that the keyboard is not working. I am stumped to say the least. The only think I have not tried is to attach a PS2 keyboard to the server as a fishing expedition.

So, any idea on why it does not work once ESXi loads? ESXi version is 6.7.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Update: I tried upgrading to ESXi 7.0. Although the keyboard was active in the remote console through the entire upgrade, after the reboot, I still have no keyboard with ESXi loads.

Any and all suggestions welcome and appreciated.

Can you let me know iDRAC FW version you have on the server

The iDRAC version is 2.65.65.65. The BIOS version is 2.9.0. Both are the latest I could find on Dell's web site. There is also a IDSDM Firmware Version of 1.10. Not sure what that is.

The ESXi version is 7.0.0 build 15843807. I updated to 7.0 from 6.7 in an attempt to fix this issue. This did not resolve the problem. The remote console keyboard works just fine up until ESXi loads. I have no idea why the OS load would trigger the keyboard to fail. I found some items in a google search about USB going to sleep on RHEL and the fix for that being a kernel tweak. That is the closest thing I can find to this issue.

Thanks for the help.

Yes sir, the local keyboard works just fine. I have tried 3 different keyboards just in case that made a difference. I have not tried a PS2 keyboard as I dont have one. All local keyboards that I have tried work just fine using either the front or rear USB ports.

I even tried disconnecting both the local keyboard and monitor in case that made a difference in some way that would trigger the remote keyboard working. Sadly, no joy there either.

I was able to get this resolved. Not the way I had hoped, but none the less, the keyboard is now working in the remote console after ESXi loads.

I re-installed ESXi 6.7, then upgraded to 7.0, then imported all the VM's. Aside from the VM ID's changing, all seems to be well. I would sure like to know what was wrong with ESXi that nuked the keyboard.

In case you are wondering why I did not just start with 7.0, I tried that first, but the system would boot to a black screen and was not accessible.

Another case where it's not working. USB's connected to boot from. Keyboard isn't working on a half-dozen servers when the USB's are connected. console virtual keyboard doesn't work either.

Hi,

Could you let us know more about what you have done on troubleshooting? How about the model servers you're using? Let check on 1 particular server that has the issue, and find out the root cause. Have you tried the settings that @DELL-Shine K has suggested on the settings attributes of  Keyboard/Mouse Attach State? It's not advisable to boot from USB, unless to do OS installation only. Have you installed the OS on hard drive and test it? Does the virtual keyboard work in BIOS

USB flash drive seems to be causing this problem. When connected, they keyboard is disabled - both locally, and through the virtual console. The usb devices are needed for installation. 

Hello alphabet5,

Sounds like you have narrowed it down to the USB Flash drive if it happens on a half dozen servers.

Give these steps a try and let us know the results along with server model.

Try a different manufacturer USB.

Try an 8G or less USB.

Try front and rear USB ports.

Try different browsers for accessing the DRAC and launch virtual console.

Try different virtual console plug in:  HTML5, java, Native

Do you have an ISO of your USB drive? You can mount that ISO in the DRAC virtual console - Virtual Media  and test install.  See if the keyboard will work.   You could also download any evaluation copy of Windows server version compatible to your host for testing using Virtual Media method.  Microsoft Evaluation ISO : https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2016

OK, so here we are two years later in April 2022. The same issue persists for me!

I manage 10 Dell PowerEdge R730xd servers and nine of them have this problem. Yeah, one works fine. I don't know why this is.

They all have the latest BIOS (2.14.0), the latest iDRAC/Lifecycle Controller firmware (2.82.82.82*), and version of ESXi (6.7.0 Update 3 build-19195723). Yet all but one of them fail to respond to keyboard inputs within the Virtual Console.

*Note = 2.83.83.83 was released 10 days ago, so I tested that one this morning on one and still no luck.

Out of sheer luck, I decided to check the Advanced System Settings on a host to see if there was anything keyboard related.

Sure enough, I stumbled across what appears to be a workaround that seems to fix the problem:

1. In vSphere Client, put the host into Maintenance Mode.
2. Go to Configure tab > System > Advanced System Settings.
3. Click Edit.
4. In the filter field, type “keyb” which will display the setting VMkernel.Boot.vmkATkeyboard.
   
   
5. Change the value from false to true.
   
   
6. Click OK.
7. Reboot the host.
8. Once ESXi has fully booted, in iDRAC, test the Virtual Console. The keyboard inputs should now passthrough.
9. Exit Maintenance Mode.

Either way, this appears to be an ESXi issue and not a Dell/iDRAC one – especially since the keyboard passthrough does work on POST to enter the Dell PowerEdge BIOS to make changes, etc. It just doesn’t work in ESXi.

The single host that does not exhibit the keyboard issue has it set to false, so I have no clue as to why Virtual Console works on that host just fine without the above workaround.

There's a chance the issue is not connected to vmWare, because I have the same issue with Windows Server '19.

The BIOS setup, Service Module and the CLI part of the install procedure works perfectly through remote console, but once the Windows shell is loaded, the console no longer forwards user input towards the OS. The remote screen continues to operate, I can see everything that happens on the screen.

I tried disabling/enabling USB3.0 setting in the BIOS, tried different remote console modes, different browsers, updated Java to the latest version, and I tried to enable "pass all keystrokes" option in the session settings, but none of the above prevailed.

Probably this is caused due to a certificate issue which the browser won't connect to the iDRAC port to send keyboard commands.

Add the IP of the iDRAC to the Trusted Sites list in Internet Explorer.

1. Press Alt + X to get to menu then go down to Internet Options

2. Click the Security Tab at the top and then click Trusted Sites.

3. Click Sites button and Enter IP into top Text field. 

4. Click close then refresh the page.

Best Regards 

Thomas