ESXi 4 - Failed to load tpm / lvmdriver:

[dsmith73]

I purchased an AMD-V computer with 64-bit Vista installed. After backing up the copy of Vista for later reinstallation as a VM, I attempted to load ESXi 4. It recognizes the processor and RAM, but generates the following error:

*Failed to load tpm

Failed to load lvmdriver

Recommendations where I should begin?

[dsmith73]

ok... the word processer screwed up my question...

• Failed to load tpm

• Failed to load lvmdriver

[Dave_Mishchenko]

You'll likely have to added a NIC that will work with ESXi - something like an Intel Pro/1000 GT.

[dsmith73]

Seems strange the the install would error because of something like this. I would have thought the install would complete and I would get an error for the NIC upon boot or when trying to access it.

Marvell Yukon 88E8071 PCI-E

[dsmith73]

I'm confused. Why would the product require a compatible NIC for the install?

[whjack]

It needs a valid IP address to generate an unique identifier, so a compatible NIC connected to network is needed.

[Windspirit]

I can confirm that.

Without the NIC the LVMdriver error comes up.

[dsmith73]

I've ordered a NIC.

Based upon the answer though, I'm still concerned that I might still receive a "tpm" error.

[Abasi2]

From this answer I thought it was the NIC card but I went to Staples and purchased a new NIC card and even disabled the onboard NIC and I am still getting the "Failed to load lvmdriver" error message, its not saying "tpm". Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[csinva]

I ran into the same problem. Then I downloaded the CPU Identification Utility () which Displays CPU features for VMotion compatibility, EVC and indicates 64-bit VMware support

It's an ISO so you burn to to a cdrom boot up the target machine and it will tell you if it will support the 64-bot or the 32-bit versions. In my case I had to get the older version of ESXi 3.5 and things are fine now.

Hope this helps.

[whjack]

Go to the following website to find the NICs supported by ESX/ESXi 4.0: http://partnerweb.vmware.com , select "IO Devices" tab. There you can find some expensive and cheap NICs .

When boot stops (successful or failed), press <Alt + F12> key to switch to log console, scroll up/down to check if a valid IP address is assigned.

[nortonja]

it seems that VMware does not support the realek network controller chipset. I have tried two different network adapters real tech controllers different types and have had the lvmdriver each time. Unfortunately for the engineers that are trying to learn newer products and can't afford rack-based name brand servers ans can't experience VMware's new product.

VMwarr need to offer network support to the lower market for the typical user so we can leverage their existing hardware. It's also unfortunate that your competitor Citrix Xenserver will install out-of-the-box with no issues or problems and perform top performance with these network controllers and cards. VMware with the largest virtualization market presence can't even support with their competitors offer and Install on the same hardware. Sorry gentlemen you need to wake up before all these little in the garage engineers rush off to download your competitor's product ,learned and realize that it works just as well with minimal requirements on hardware as yours. Otherwise all you've offered from your download was a waste of our valuable time and bad PR..

Sorry as i'm now one of these upset users,

[Fedetech]

I agree with the comment above, I have the same problem, and I even tried with a "less expensive" Intel Pro/100 , still getting the same error. Very unfortunate for VMWare, bad word of mouth publicity can be very harmful. I am not going to be buying an expensive NIC to try this product.

[Abasi2]

I purchased a $20 intel nic e1000 card and esxi worked fine.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

ESX(i) 4 dropped the e100 driver so the cheapest option would be something like an Intel Pro 1000 GT.

[KellyOlivier]

I have two Intel 1000GTs in each esxi box I have as well as a nvidia onboard. The onboard didn't work in 3.5, but in 4.0 it does so now I have 3 nics per host! I still get the tpm error but it all seems to work fine.

[DVDWSN]

I think the TPM error is about a missing Trusted Platform Module.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Platform_Module

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/microsite.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1011452...

[Shigemichi]

My scope was to deploy ESXi4 on my laptop to build a mobile virtual testing environment without dependency on network to access a remote virtual environment. However, the tpm and lvm load failure prevents further progress with ESX. Going to go the Microsoft Windows Server 8 with Hypervisor now to build such an environment. It's unfortunate as ESX is the PROD standard hypervisor we use in hosting environments.

[whjack]

Even you can set up the ESXi and setup your mobile virtual testing enviroment, without network access, there is no way to access your virtual machines.

[Shigemichi]

That's right. Need my realtex 8168C driver to load before I can create virtual interfaces to communicate between images and host.