VMware Cloud Community
Rayband
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

No Network Adapters During ESX 5.5 Installation

Hopefully someone can give me an answer that I can use to try and get this working.

I am attempting to install ESX 5.5 onto an extra PC I have laying around my house and I have been experiencing nothing but problems with the network adapter. I'm using an Asus P68V-Pro Motherboard with an Intel 2500k CPU and an Intel PCI-E network card.

Originally I was attempting to install with the integrated Intel Gigabit Ethernet port and was getting a similar error so I went out yesterday and purchased a PCI-E card that I know is supported by ESX 5.5 as I have 2 friends with the same card running it with no problems. Reviews of the card I've managed to find also seem to support this. My motherboard supports virtualization and my processor is on a compatible CPU list for both Hyper-V and VMWare.

But every time I try and run the installation it pops up with the NO NETWORK ADAPTERS error and aborts the installation. Is there a way to either force drivers to be detected during install, or skip the prompt for network access so I can install it and then manually transfer the drivers over afterward?

Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated as I seem to have run out of good ones on my end.

Thanks

Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
rh5592
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

http://www.ivobeerens.nl/?s=ESXi+CustomizerThere is a download link there for the driver

Regards. ================================================= "If found useful, kindly mark answers Correct or Helpful " http://rh5592.com =================================================

View solution in original post

Reply
0 Kudos
14 Replies
rh5592
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

Create a customized iso and include your NIC driver. An easy to use customizer I've used is from this blog VMware Front Experience: ESXi-Customizer

Regards. ================================================= "If found useful, kindly mark answers Correct or Helpful " http://rh5592.com =================================================
Reply
0 Kudos
weinstein5
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Welcome to the Community - Specifically, which  network card did you purchase? Also which NIC is embedded on the MB?

If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful
Reply
0 Kudos
Rayband
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

According to my motherboards spec page

Intel 82579 LAN Controller

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8Z68V_PRO/#specifications

And I replaced it with

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX29347

Apologies for not linking properly. It appears this editor doesn't allow copy pasting

Reply
0 Kudos
Rayband
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Regarding the ESXi-Customizer Software that you recommended. I am able to add the ISO and have downloaded the drivers for my Intel Network card. Yet whenever I attempt to RUN the compiler it comes up with a Fatal error when it tries to compile my drivers into an ISO. It says that it could not read metadata.zip and force closes

Folders: 145

Files: 1483

Size:      155014353

Compressed: 77899859

[2014-01-23 17:12:16.31] !-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[2014-01-23 17:12:16.31] !-- FATAL ERROR: Corrupt offline bundle. Cannot find metadata.zip file!

[2014-01-23 17:12:16.32] !-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[2014-01-23 17:12:16.32] Run: "C:\*\Downloads\ESXi-Customizer-v2.7.2\tools\MsgBox.exe" 266260 "FATAL ERROR:&n  Corrupt offline bundle. Cannot find metadata.zip file!&n&nSee log file 'D:\Dreamspark\PLS\ESXi-Customizer.log' for details! Do you want to open the log file in notepad now?"

[2014-01-23 17:12:19.15] Cleaning up ... 

[2014-01-23 17:12:19.45] Please check and clean up manually.

[2014-01-23 17:12:19.46] This is the end.

Reply
0 Kudos
rh5592
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

http://www.ivobeerens.nl/?s=ESXi+CustomizerThere is a download link there for the driver

Regards. ================================================= "If found useful, kindly mark answers Correct or Helpful " http://rh5592.com =================================================
Reply
0 Kudos
Rayband
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Great Success!

I installed the drivers and compiled it with the program like it said and it FINALLY got past the network phase and let me install!

Thank you so much for your assistance with this!

Reply
0 Kudos
rh5592
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

Great!

Regards. ================================================= "If found useful, kindly mark answers Correct or Helpful " http://rh5592.com =================================================
Reply
0 Kudos
iliketurtles
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

I am having same issue but unable to find the embedded NIC driver for my motherboard. Says it is a PCIE Gigabit Lan but can't find a driver related to it.

Motherboard - ASRock Z75Pro3. Will I need to get a PCI Network Card? I am getting tired spending money on this.

Reply
0 Kudos
Rayband
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Hey turtles,

I remember from way back when that when i finally managed to get it working it ended up using my onboard LAN instead of my add-on. If you haven't already try downloading and using the iso from above and trying it out as most onboard LAN adapters use similar drivers.

Cheers

Reply
0 Kudos
offlabs
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

I am still trying to figure this out. I have a GA-965P-DS3 and can't seem to find the right drivers. Thanks for all the advice to this point by the way!

Reply
0 Kudos
offlabs
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Marvell 88E8056 PCIe on ESXi 5 a helpful start that is for sure!

Reply
0 Kudos
iliketurtles
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

I ended up purchasing two Network Cards on amazon and everything showed up perfectly. My issue seemed to be a compatibility problem.

Reply
0 Kudos
offlabs
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

What network cards may I ask?

Reply
0 Kudos
iliketurtles
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Of course you may ask. Smiley Happy

I went with

Intel Gigabit CT PCI-E Network Adapter EXPI9301CTBLK


About $30 per card.

Reply
0 Kudos