There are two solutions you can use for ESX testing. First, instructions from Xtravirt.com using VMware Workstation 6.0 under Windows XP machine and it only work with ESX 3.0.2 at this point. If you want to test ESX 3.5 in bare metal than you should load ESX 3.5 Update 1 CD in to see if it works or not that will quickly tells u the answer. You can consult on Compatibility guide but will likely not workable because the guide is towards server class type. You can check out David Mishchenko's website or search on here for "ESX sandbox" that should lead you to the link.

I would load the ESX 3.5 CD and know in 10 minutes instead of asking unless you can't format your system. SATA drives are support and its good if you use OpenFiler and FreeNAS as iSCSI SAN as well.

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Regards,

Stefan Nguyen
iGeek Systems Inc.
VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

As mentioned you'll want to confirm which SATA controller and NIC model this PC has. This link states that it should have the Intel Q35 chipset http://www.upenn.edu/computing/provider/docs/hardware/optiplex755.html and if that's correct you should have the ICH9 controller (http://download.intel.com/products/chipsets/Q35_Q33/317312.pdf). It'll also have an Intel 10/100/1000 NIC, but you may still have to add a NIC to the system - I use Intel Pro 1000/GT which are fairly cheap to get.

Other systems that have been testing with 3.5/3i - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/Whiteboxes_SATA_Controllers_for_ESX_3.5_3i.htm.

Is it stopping at a certain point? Have you tried with ESX 3i?

Does 3i see a storage controller? With 3.5 there seems to be an issue with the installer not being able to use some CD-ROMs. I have the problem on a couple of whiteboxes and in those cases I have copied the install CD to a web server and I then choose to run the rest of the install from there. You could also use FTP as the source for the install.

This is the closest I've seen to an explanation of the problem.

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CD_ROM - No drivers found http://communities.vmware.com/message/875606

I happen to be having the same problem. I think the user having the issue may have left out a very critical detail. the error message occurs just after the screen "Installation Method” where you answer the question "what type of media contains the packages to be installed" Options are "Local CD-ROM, Hard Drive, NFS, FTP, HTTP" When you select "Local CD-ROM" it says "No Drivers Found" however if you continue to read it says " Unable to find any devices for this installation type". ive done some research on Linux distros and there’s tons of people having the issue and all seem to b able to resolve it by specifying something like "linux all-generic-ide irqpoll pci=nommconf " something or other... it basically makes the installer use a generic IDE mode for the CD-ROM, this only happens when the CD-rom is a "SATA" cd rom... dunno why or how... im going to keep looking till I figure it out.. Or maybe I’ll just do the FTP thing... That’s not a bad idea... just wish I could ensure it actually see's the drives before I go through all that trouble.

If you still have 3i running could you open a console session and run lspci. That'll tell you the model of SATA controller that you have and should tell you if you have a chance with ESX 3.5.

Do you know the specific model of SATA controller that this PC has?

It would be worth checking anyways and especially to get the PCI and vender ID for the controller. With that it is possible to check the PCI database files from ESX to see if it will recognize the controller. If you haven't already done so I would suggest downloading ESX 3.5 Update 1 and trying with that.