iDRAC: iDRAC9 - Crash Screen Capture

Summary: How to View boot and crash capture videos with the iDRAC video player.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
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Instructions

When a server is unable to boot to the operating system, the iDRAC can be used to view boot and crash capture videos. This is an Enterprise license only feature.

Available video recordings in the iDRAC:

  • Last three boot cycles—A boot cycle video logs the sequence of events for a boot cycle. The boot cycle videos are arranged in the order of latest to oldest.
  • Last crash video—A crash video logs the sequence of events leading to the failure.


The iDRAC records at fifty frames per minute during boot time. Playback of the boot screens occurs at a rate of one frame per second. If iDRAC is reset, the boot capture video is not available as it is stored in RAM and is deleted.

Note: 
  • Access to the Virtual Console or administrator privileges must be available to the end user to play back the Booted Capture and Crash Capture videos.
  • The video capture time that is displayed in the iDRAC may differ from the video capture time that is displayed in other video players. The iDRAC video player displays time in the iDRAC time zone while all other video players display the time in the respective operating system time zones.
Note: Data Version Control (DVC) boot capture files are not videos. They are a sequence of screens (at one particular resolution) taken during the server boot. The DVC player converts these screens together to create the boot video. When exporting the video from DVC (continuous snapshot and differences) to .mov (video) format, it is expected to use the same resolution, or a similar resolution, that the video was initially encoded with. Videos should be exported at a similar resolution that they have been captured with.
Note: The reason for the delay in availability of the boot capture file is because the boot capture buffer is not full after the host boot.

Configuring video capture settings

To configure the video capture settings:

  1. In the iDRAC Web interface, go to Maintenance > Troubleshooting > Video Capture.
    The Video Capture page is displayed.
  2. From the Video Capture Settings drop-down menu, select any of the following options:
    • Disable—Boot capture is disabled.
    • Capture until buffer full—Boot sequence is captured until the buffer size has reached.
    • Capture until end of POST—Boot sequence is captured until end of POST.
  3. Click Apply to apply the settings.

The idrac_9_videoplayer.zip can be downloaded from any functional iDRAC to a local system accessing a remote iDRAC. 
In iDRAC versions 5.00.00.00 and above, screen crashes export as .mpg files and the files are playable with windows media player.

Additional Information

iDRAC9 User's Guide | Dell US Page 341
iDRAC9 Version 7.20.03.15 Release Notes | Dell US 

Affected Products

iDRAC9, iDRAC9 - 3.0x Series, iDRAC9 - 3.1x Series, iDRAC9 - 3.2x Series, iDRAC9 - 3.3x Series, iDRAC9 - 3.4x Series, iDRAC9 - 4.xx Series, iDRAC9 - 5.xx Series
Article Properties
Article Number: 000195058
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 11 Jun 2025
Version:  2
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