How to boot into the BIOS or the Lifecycle Controller on your PowerEdge Server

Note: This article is part of the Server Tutorials: Support Tools, available here.

To enter the BIOS, press a function <F> key. Which function key to press is dependent upon your specific server. General guidelines are as follows:

• <F2> Enables you to enter System Setup (BIOS) .
• <F10> Enables you to enter system services and starts Lifecycle Controller (for iDRAC/Lifecyle Contoller enabled systems)
• <F11> Enables you to enter Boot Manager.
• <F12> Enables you to enter PXE Boot.

Press the desired <F> key once every two seconds until you see confirmation on the screen that you are entering the correct mode.
The <F> key menu is in the right of the screen,as show in figure 1.

Figure 1.

On newer servers, you only need to press <F2> once when you see the Dell Splash screen. You should see confirmation of the boot mode in the upper right-hand corner.


Other BIOS may include the Remote Access Card or PERC controller. The method is the same. The two second rule still applies. You still start at the Dell Splash screen. The only difference is the 2 key combination. The POST of the server will display the needed two-key character required. <Ctrl>+<e> and <Ctrl>+<p> are popular for many Dell implementations.

The System Setup Main Menu allows to configure: