Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Remove OEMDRV Drive from Dell Server

I recently installed a Dell Server by using the Lifecycle Controller. This system uses a wizard to help with the installation of the operating system. In this case, I was installing Windows Server 2008 R2 to replace an existing Exchange 2010 server.

As part of the installation, an OEMDRV USB drive is created by the Lifecycle Controller that contains the drivers used during OS installation. OS installation went well, but I ran into an issue afterwards. The OEMDRV drive was using E:, which I needed for my Exchange data.

When you go into computer management, OEMDRV shows as a removable drive. However, you cannot change the drive letter or eject OEMDRV. By default the Lifecycle controller removes this drive after 18 hours, but I didn't want to wait that long.

To force OEMDRV to be removed earlier, restart the server and press F10 to enter the Lifecycle Controller configuration. Then exit the Lifecycle Controller and reboot again. You don't need to make any changes in the configuration. Just entering and exiting triggers the removal.

35 comments:

  1. Thank you! Exactly the information I was looking for!

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  2. Thankyou too, this really helped me out. Appreciated.

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  3. Thank you. Worked right away!

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  4. you can remove it by doing cold reboot also . i.e. press the power button for long time to shut it down and then boot normally.

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    1. Thanks Nanda. Good to know. I'll try that the next time I get a new server in.

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    2. As an FYI. I did test this today on a new server by doing a full shutdown on a server then restarting remotely via the iDRAC. For me, the OEMDRV was still there. Perhaps fully removing the power would do it, but I didn't bother to test that.

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    3. This doesn't work. Please remove this person's misinformation to save people time and frustration.

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    4. Powering down worked for me too. I was working remotely with iDRAC basic (unable to access lifecycle). Prior to shutting down server, I was unable to change the OEM drive letter or eject it. After powering back up the OEM drive was there but I was able to right click and eject (W2KR12). Thanks for the tip, now I get to work over the weekend :)

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    5. When i meant Cold reboot, i actually meant full AC Power cycle, i.e. unplug the cable and connect back after min. 10 seconds. Not just cold reboot from idrac virtual console.

      Nanda Kishore

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    6. That was the solution for me. Turned off the R730, unplugged it for 30 seconds, powered it up, and was able to install using our customized install disk. No OEM drive. Thanks!

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  5. Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for.

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  6. Worked great on my Dell T430. Very helpful, thank you very much. You Rock!

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  7. Thanks so much, worked today on my new R730 setup. Could not figure out how to reclaim my drive letter, glad I stumbled upon your site.

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  8. Nice one! this helped me on my R730xd setup! Many thanks!!

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  9. Thanks!

    But shame on DELL for qualifiying
    http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/servers/f/1466/p/19623926/20744665#20744665
    as "Verifed Answer"!

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    1. I suppose in fairness to Dell, it looks like it was the person asking the question that marked it as an answer.

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  10. Thanks for the post. It works for me . I have faced this issue while installing a Dell R715 Server today.

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  11. Add my thank you to the list. I know the last server I imaged it seemed to just disappear, but I couldn't remember how. Now I know.

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  12. Saved me time and annoyancea. Thank you!

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  13. Awesome Byron .
    It worked for me . Thank you.
    - Johny

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  14. Just a quick tip... You can always open device manager and uninstall the hardware. That will release the drive letter on the current boot.

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  15. Computer Management>Device Manager>Disk Drives; Disable: "Linux OEMDRV USB Device"

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  16. Pretty great that this works on the PowerEdge T430 as well. Thanks!

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  17. Thank you! Worked Great

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