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OK, lets take one step back.
There are two ways to run ESXi.
1. Run it from harddrive. Installed on a harddisk using the ESXi installable which is available for download from VMware's website using a CD.
2. Run it from a USB stick. Installed on a stick using the procedure which is described here: http://www.vminfo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/vminfonl-guide-create-an-esx-3i-usb-boot-key.pdf this also uses the downloadable ESXi installable.
option 1 uses a local harddrive to install it on
option 2 runs from the USB device without touching the local drive(s) and removing it during operation will cause issues
i.e. logs are written to the usb-deviceI managed to borrow a 4GB USB drive from a friend. I then followed the procedure again, but I still can't make it boot!
Then I re-read the whole procedure (actually the whole page) and I spotted the last comment. Someone said he needed the "-sma" options with syslinux. I tried this first with my "SD Card + Card Reader" and you know what, this time my "SD Card + Card Reader" booted!
However, VMWare Hypervisor took a long time, really really long time to load. It took more than 30 minutes to load before installation could start! It seems like it's using USB1 transfer rate instead of USB2 (both card reader and USB host are in USB2, I'm 100% sure of this). Anyway, I let it go through everything up to reboot, but this time I got "Missing operatig system. Operatig System not found" message! (discussion below)
But for the sack of "scientific spirit", I took my friend's 4GB USB drive, made it bootable using syslinux (and the -sma options, of course) and tried again. Hmm, loading of VMware Hypervisor is once again very very slow. It's been more than 25 minutes and only about 66% is loaded! I could go on, but I suspect I'll get the same "Missing operatig system. Operatig System not found" message again after reboot......
snipped
2. Run it from a USB stick. Installed on a stick using the procedure which is described here: http://www.vminfo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/vminfonl-guide-create-an-esx-3i-usb-boot-key.pdf this also uses the downloadable ESXi installable.
option 1 uses a local harddrive to install it on
option 2 runs from the USB device without touching the local drive(s) and removing it during operation will cause issues i.e. logs are written to the usb-device
2. Run it from a USB stick. Installed on a stick using the procedure which is described here: http://www.vminfo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/vminfonl-guide-create-an-esx-3i-usb-boot-key.pdf this also uses the downloadable ESXi installable.
option 1 uses a local harddrive to install it on
option 2 runs from the USB device without touching the local drive(s) and removing it during operation will cause issues
i.e. logs are written to the usb-deviceI'm a bit confused...... or we misunderstood one another...? I don't want to install ESXi to a USB drive, but I want to install ESXi from a USB drive to the hard disk. Is this possible?