Lifecycle Controller | Operating System Installation Wizard from USB Key

Introduction

The Dell Technologies Lifecycle Controller (LCC) is an advanced embedded systems management technology. The LCC enables remote server management using integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC). It is possible to install an operating system using a USB Key through the LCC. This article explains how to perform this process.

 

Description

iDRAC7/8 firmware 2.60.60.60 and iDRAC9 firmware 3.30.30.30 introduce USB installation media support for the Lifecycle Controller operating system Deployment Wizard. This feature allows a fast operating system installation interface for end users that do not have Optical DVD ROMs on their Dell EMC PowerEdge servers. This article outlines any caveats that may hinder a user from successfully using this feature of the LCC.



Figure 1: OS Deployment screen in LCC

The LCC User Interface (UI) is accessed by pressing F10 when prompted during boot. The LCC is an EFI shell that allows users to run some basic tasks to manage and deploy Dell EMC PowerEdge servers. In order to implement the USB operating system Media feature, the USB drive must adhere to the limitations inherent to the EFI specification as outlined below.

 

EFI Limitations

1. USB Media Format:

In order for the LCC to recognize valid USB operating system Installation Media, the following conditions must be met:

• Master Boot Record (MBR) disk must be used in order to support Legacy BIOS Boot Mode and UEFI Boot Mode.
• File System of the USB drive must be Fat32.
• A Volume Label should be applied to the USB drive. 

Supported USB media from Diskpart can be created by following the procedure that is outlined below:

1. Insert USB drive into Windows computer.
2. Open Command prompt with Administrator privileges.
3. Type "diskpart" at CMD prompt
4. Type "list disk" to determine drive number of the USB drive.
5. Type "select disk x" where x= drive number of USB drive.
6. Type "clean" to delete all data from the USB drive.
7. Type "convert mbr" to define MBR boot sector. 
8. Type "create part pri" to create a primary partition on the USB drive.
9. Type "select partition 1" to select newly created partition.
10. Type "active" to set the partition as active.
11. Type "format fs=fat32 label=OS-label quick" where the OS-label is defined by the user.
12. Type "exit" to end diskpart.

 
Figure 2: CLI screen showing creation of supported USB media from Diskpart

2. FAT32 filesize limitations:

FAT32 file systems have a 4GB file size limitation. Some Windows Operating System ISO images may carry an install.wim file that exceeds this size limitation. Since the USB drive has to be a FAT32 filesystem for the LCC User Interface, this install.wim needs to be split before it can be copied to the key.

The install.wim is located in the …/sources directory of the ISO image or DVD.


Figure 3: Sources Directory of the ISO image showing install.wim

For ISO images with an install.wim that exceeds 4 GB in size, the end user can use Microsoft's DISM tool to split the WIM image:

Dism /Split-Image /ImageFile:D:\sources\install.wim /SWMFile:E:\sources\install.swm /FileSize:3800

Microsoft documentation on copying Windows Installation files to USB drive, can be accessed here. It is recommended that you consult this document before attempting to use the Microsoft DISM tool.