How can I force X to start in a computer without a monitor?

Posted by Javier Rivera on Ask Ubuntu See other posts from Ask Ubuntu or by Javier Rivera
Published on 2011-02-16T09:25:03Z Indexed on 2011/02/16 15:33 UTC
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10.04

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xorg

I have I computer that have no monitor attached. When I boot it X fails to start because there is no monitor detected. If I boot it with a monitor attached and after X is started I remove the monitor everything works fine.

Details and Background:

This computer is a kind of hardware consolidation server. It's only purpose is to run two Virtual Box VM's that run Windows XP and some important but seldom used (once or twice a month) programs. For a couple of time it has been lying in a corner with an old monitor attached to it and working great.

But space in the office was getting scarce and I moved the computer to the server room. There is no monitor attached to it there (no space), and sometimes the computer is rebooted. When it boots without monitor X is not started, the vms don't start and I get called to solve the problem.

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