How to remap F2 in Supermicro iKVM Remote Console to get to VMware ESXi "Customize System/View Logs"

The Java-based iKVM is not long for this world. The remaining IPMI bugs, along with many Supermicro owners not able to upgrade to IPMI 3.3.x or later, mean that not everybody is able to move to HTML5, see also my recent:

• How to map a network share to boot from ISO, moving Supermicro Java iKVM to browser-only HTML5 iKVM

If you also use VMware ESXi's DCUI (Direct Console User Interface) for occasional sysadmin, it can be aggravating to get this message pop-up, right when you're trying to get to the
<F2> Customize System/View Logs
menu.

The below fix will resolve this keyboard mapping issue. Quickly, easily, permanently. Yes, the fix should persist through reboots and power outages, but if you do decide to upgrade your IPMI firmware in the future, be sure to follow the advice to back up your IPMI settings first, so they can be restored after the upgrade.

Fix

1. in iKVM with ESXi already running, click Options drop-down menu, then select Hotkey Settings
2. under action, select Exit Remote Location
3. click on iKVM's Start button at bottom-left
4. click F9 on your physical keyboard
5. click Stop
6. click Close
7. test by pressing the F2 key, you should now see the VMware's expected "Authentication Required menu come up

Video

See also at TinkerTry

• How to map a network share to boot from ISO, moving Supermicro Java iKVM to browser-only HTML5 iKVM
  Nov 22 2016

• Little secret those new to virtualization often miss - ESXi 6.0 continues to be mostly headless, just as it was for all prior VMware hypervisor releases
  Mar 07 2015

• Did you know you can get to the ESXi local console UI from an SSH session?
  Nov 05 2014

See also