This blog was originally written by Gobind Vijayakumar and Perumal Raja from DELL OS Engineering Team.
With Dell PowerEdge 13G servers, we have provided the option of enabling support for USB 3.0 for your operating system. This blog focuses on the enabling this feature with Microsoft Windows Server Operating Systems.
Firstly, USB 3.0 is disabled by Default in System BIOS; follow the steps below to enable USB 3.0 on your server.
- During POST, press “F2” to enter System Setup. Then Select “System BIOS”
- From the list of option - Select “Integrated Devices” option.
- Then you can Enable/Disable USB 3.0 using the USB3.0 setting as below.
IMPORTANT! ONLY enable USB 3.0 if the operating system has support! Or you may lose basic functionality like Keyboard/Mouse.
USB 3.0 driver support in Microsoft Windows Server OS
USB 3.0 drivers are native in Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 and don’t require any additional configuration. You can go into the BIOS to enable/disable the USB 3.0 feature. Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 should work fine without any issues.
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 doesn’t have native (in-box) driver support for USB 3.0 which may create issues during Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 installation with USB 3.0 enabled. You can follow one of the below methods to install Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 along with USB 3.0 driver to make use of this feature.
For Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 here is the link for USB3 drivers. (alternatively, they will be listed on support.dell.com on the particular driver download page for the server)
Method #1 (using Dell LifeCycle Controller)
- Make sure USB 3.0 is disabled before this installation
- Boot the system and press F10 at POST to enter LifeCycle Controller
- Connect your DVD ROM with Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 media
- Select “Deploy OS” option under OS Deployment.
5.On the next screen, you can create/Initialize the RAID if not already configured else select “GO Directly to OS deployment” option and click NEXT.
6. On the Next screen, select the Boot mode and Operating System as “Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1”. Then click NEXT
Note: Secure Boot is only supported with Windows Server 2012 or later.
7.Once selected, Dell Lifecycle controller pulls in required drivers which include the USB 3.0 driver for OS deployment.
8. After this stage, please select the mode of installation required and complete the OS installation from the media.
9. Enable USB 3.0 in BIOS and OS boots up with required drivers installed.
Method #2
- Disable USB 3.0 from the server BIOS settings using the steps given above.
- Create a folder with name “$WinPEDriver$” in a USB drive and copy the USB 3.0 drivers into the folder from the above link.
- Plug the USB drive into one of the ports and start the Windows server 2008 R2 SP1 installation.
- USB 3.0 drivers will be automatically loaded from the USB drive during the OS installation.
- After OS installation completes, reboot the server and enable USB 3.0 from the server BIOS settings.
- Server boots into the OS with required USB 3.0 driver installed.
Method #3 (Post-install)
- Download the USB 3.0 driver from the above link provided and extract the files.
- Disable USB 3.0 from the server BIOS settings and install Windows server 2008 R2 SP1 OS.
- After completing the OS installation, boot into the OS.
- Open a “Command Console” and type the below command
- Pnputil.exe –a <Path to inf file of the USB 3.0 driver>
Note: Don’t use “-I” switch in the above command.
5.Reboot the server and enable USB 3.0 from the server BIOS settings.
6.Server boots into the OS with required USB 3.0 driver installed.
References/Additional information
1) Microsoft Support for USB 3.0 - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh848067(v=vs.85).aspx
2) Dell LifeCycle controller - http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems-management/w/wiki/lifecycle-controller/
3) USB 3.0 Kernel Debugging - http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/b/techcenter/archive/2014/09/30/usb3-kernel-debugging-with-dell-poweredge-13g-servers