I built a headless refurb bench: imaging surplus PCs without a monitor
TL;DR The headless problem: Running a refurb bench means stacking PCs, but monitors/keyboards create noise and clutter. You need remote hands. PiKVM V4 Plus is a network KVM: remote video capture, USB keyboard/mouse emulation, virtual media mounting, and ATX relay control—all in a $300 device. Multiport Switch extender lets one PiKVM control up to four machines simultaneously by flipping an RJ45 port. Dell CCTK (Command | Configure) automates BIOS settings from WinPE: set AHCI, enable PXE, disable Secure Boot, configure Wake-on-LAN, tag assets—all without touching F2. Unattended imaging = BIOS automation + PXE boot + virtual media mounting. Chain ten machines without hands-on intervention. Gotchas matter: AHCI after Windows install = BSOD; Secure Boot changes need a setup password; BitLocker auto-encrypts Win11 and blocks generalize; Deep Sleep disables S5 wake. Why I Needed This I’ve been buying government-surplus refurbished machines to flip—mostly surplus OptiPlex machines—and my original setup was a single monitor, keyboard, and mouse swapped between machines. That works for one box. It doesn’t scale to five. ...