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7th Gen NUC Remote Management with KVM using vPro AMT

Intel's latest 7th Gen Dawson Canyon NUCs are equipped with AMT vPro Technology. Intel AMT (Active Management Technology) allows remote management including a KVM Console. vPro is available in NUCs with i7 and i5 CPUs. NUCs with i3 CPUs do not have vPro Technology.

7th Gen NUCs with vPro Technology:

  • NUC7i7DNHE
  • NUC7i7DNKE
  • NUC7i5DNHE
  • NUC7i5DNKE

Activation and access to the Remote Console/KVM are a little bit hidden. This post explains how to enable and use the remote management.

  1. Power on the Intel NUC. Press CTRL+P at the splash screen to enter MEBx BIOS.
  2. Change the default password. The default password is "admin". The new password has the comply with the following policies:
    - At least 8 characters
    - At least one digit character (eg. 0, 1, … 9)
    - At least one non-alpha-numeric character (e.g. !, $, ;) excluding colon, comma or quotes.
    - At least one lower-case letter (a, b, c, d...)
    - At least one upper case letter (A, B, C, D,...)
  3. optional: The AMT system uses DHCP to configure an IP Address. If you do not have a DHCP server you can configure a static IP within Intel AMT Configuration > Network Setup > TCP/IP Settings
  4. The Web interface is available at port 16992 (http://<IP>:16992/). Log in once to verify that it is available and properly configured.
  5. Download and extract Intel AMT Software Development SDK
  6. Download and install RealVNC
  7. Open \Windows\Intel_AMT\Bin\KVM\KVMControlApplication.exe from the Intel AMT SDK downloaded previously
  8. Connect to the machine, enter Hostname, Username, Password and open "Machine Settings"
  9. Set KVM status to "Enabled - all ports" and configure an RFB password. The RFB password has to comply with the same policies as mentioned in Step 2 but has to be exactly 8 characters.
  10. You can now use almost any VNC client to connect to the NUC. In this example, I'm using RealVNC.

Related posts:

  1. Howto: Intel NUC Remote KVM with AMT (powered by vPro)
  2. Tips for running an Intel NUC Based VMware Homelab
  3. Home Lab Power Management Tipps
  4. Which Intel NUC to buy for running ESXi? (August 2016)
  5. Preview on 7th Gen (Kaby Lake) Intel NUC
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24 thoughts on “7th Gen NUC Remote Management with KVM using vPro AMT”

  1. Mario

    Hi,

    thanks for posting this - always very helpful.

    So I came across another issue: If you have no external display connected to the nuc, then remote desktop will be just black.

    Seems that this is not fixed by any BIOS update yet.

    Cheers!

    Reply
  4. Kev

    Hi Mario,

    I found the same issue. To resolve it I've used an HDMI Emulator which is about twice the side of the HDMI port. I paid £6 for two including postage.

    Kev

    Reply
    1. OB

      I was able to resolve this by updating to latest bios.

      Got nuc7i5dnke and out the box (bios 32) didn't work without screen plugged in. Went to bios 40 and was a new option on display for emulation. Setting to headerless allowed KVM with nothing plugged into hdmi

      Reply
  6. Craig

    When I try step 7 "Open \Windows\Intel_AMT\Bin\KVM\KVMControlApplication.exe from the Intel AMT SDK downloaded previously"
    I'm getting an error:
    Unable to load DLL 'KVMLib.dll': The specified module could not be found. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070007E)

    Is there something else I need to install to get this to work? I'm on a new installation of Win10.

    Reply
        1. Sam

          Well RealVNC states this: "Run Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) versions 6 through 11. Please note that Intel AMT version 12 is not currently supported."

          And the current version of AMT is 12. (even via the SDK link in this blog post)

          SOOO if I return my nuc8's for nuc7's w/vPro will this even still work if I update the bios/firmware/software????

          Reply
  11. Matthias

    many thanks, its works fine :)
    does anyone have an idea how to change the keyboard layout from US to Germany? no setting found in the AMT menu

    Reply
  12. Age

    the KVMControlApplication.exe has been removed in version 14 of the AMT SDK.

    Does some have have the older version still on their PC and is willing to share it?

    Reply
      2. Anktarius

        Hi Florian,

        Any chance that you still have the file ?
        The link you shared is dead and impossible to find it online.

        Thank you.

        Reply
  15. Steve

    Any idea why they stopped supporting this in the NUC8 series? It seems like a great feature. Was there a vulnerability found, or was it just rarely used?

    Reply
  18. Thorsten

    Some additional information to give back something for the great information I found here.

    I bought a NUC11 with vPro. Some info I searched and was successful:

    1. running headless was important for me. With NUC11 this is possible with out extra hardware, see this article here. You set a special option in the BIOS setting under Advanced->Video->Display Emulation.
    Details: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000033413/intel-nuc.html

    2. Mounting the iso for ESXi installation can be done using vPro, but you need the special software from Intel, see here: https://www.intel.de/content/www/de/de/download/18796/intel-manageability-commander.html
    AMT SDK is not needed anymore. This tool can remote console and remote mount of iso and power cycling (is enough for me)

    3. To get remote mounting work. you MUST run the software from 2. (only available for windows) with Administrator rights.

    Reply

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