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How to set up Mac Mini without display/keyboard/mouse?

I have a new Mac Mini (2011) server and want to set it up without a display, keyboard or mouse.

The Mac Mini user guide (http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/mac_mini_mid2011_ug.pdf), page 19, says "For help setting up Mac OS X Lion remotely on a Mac Mini without a keyboard, mouse, or display open the Server application and choose Server Help in the Help menu."

This doesn't make any sense. How can I open the Server application with no keyboard, mouse, or display?!

I need to boot the machine, then remote into it. Does anybody know how to do this?

Thanks,

-Steve

Mac mini

Posted on Aug 6, 2011 2:00 PM

Best reply

Philip Lamb

Level 1

14 points

Posted on Sep 27, 2011 7:02 AM

You've probably got past this, but for future reference, you can connect an ethernet cable directly to another Mac (the controlling Mac) and then connect to Lion Server over the network to do the initial setup.

During the initial setup only, the VNC server on the machine has it's password set to the first 8 digits of the machines serial number (all caps). Also, the root account on the machine has a password of the machine's full serial number, again only during the initial setup.

To work out the IP address of the machine, open up Terminal and enter "arp -i en0 -a" and look for other IP addresses.

Alternately, you can do this by running Server Admin on the controlling Mac.

Once the initial server setup is complete, be sure to enable any remorte access (e.g. SSH, etc.) on the Mac before disconnecting, as you won't be able to reconnect using the above techniques once the setup is done.