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Xerloq
Contributor
Contributor

ESXi 5.5 ASUS H97M Plus, Intel I218-V "No Network Adapters" Error

Hello all!

I'm experimenting with ESXi on my home computer, but keep running into the "No Network Adapters" error, which I understand is because the 5.5 default drivers don't support the Intel I218-V on my Asus H97M-Plus motherboard.

I've looked through these forums and others, and understand that I can use the ESXi Customizer v2.7.2 to add the Intel drivers. The latest version I can find in a .VIB file is net-e1000e-2.3.2.x86_64 which don't seem to work. The latest version I can fine on Intel's site is e1000e-3.0.4. I've tried using the Customizer to insert that version without success.

Also, I'm trying to run ESXi from a bootable USB drive which I create from the ISO using Rufus-1.4.9

My system specs are:

Asus H97M-Plus

Intel 4790S

32GB DDR3-1600 RAM

What's the next step?

Thanks,

97 Replies
ruhann
Contributor
Contributor

I got the driver files added to a ISO for the Asus X99 Deluxe board with two onboard NICs (one being Intel I218V)

The ESXi-Customizer.cmd v2.7.2 contains bugs that have not been fixed from what I have seen.

So I installed the ESXi-Customizer-PS-v2.3 instead to add custom drivers to the VM ISO.

There are the steps I followed

1- Installed VMWare PowerCLI

http://www.vmware.com/go/powercli

2- Installed ESXi-Customizer-PS-v2.3.ps1 from here:

http://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer-ps.html

3- I download the GLRoman created driver list (offline bundle ZIP) from:

https://communities.vmware.com/message/2410736#2410736

BIG THANKS GLROMAN!

4- Dumped the files into one folder (don't unzip the bundle file)

5- Ran this command as-is within VMwarePowerCLI from the step-4 folder to create the customer ISO

./ESXi-Customizer-PS-v2.3.ps1 -vft -load net-e1000e

6- Used Rufus to the create bootable USB disk:

https://rufus.akeo.ie

7- Ran Rufus with these settings:

* MBR partitition scheme for BIOS or UEFI

* FAT32

* quick format

* create bootable disk using the CUSTOM-ISO

* creat extended label and icon files.

* START

8- Plugged the USB stick into MB USB port. Found that using a front-end USB port does not work.

9- Installed ESXi 5.5 U2 successfully.

Hope this helps.

peetz
Leadership
Leadership

Good solution, but you can skip the steps 3 and 4.

The ESXi-Customizer-PS script downloads the net-e1000e driver from the V-Front Online depot.

For a more general guide on "How to make your unsupported NIC work with ESXi" see

VMware Front Experience: How to make your unsupported NIC work with ESXi 5.x

Andreas

Twitter: @VFrontDe, @ESXiPatches | https://esxi-patches.v-front.de | https://vibsdepot.v-front.de
VIR2AL3X
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

peetz, does the net-e1000e driver from the V-Front Online depot contain support for all of the missing Intel drivers which are included in GLRoman's custom driver, as well as for the 82579V driver that cmcallen included and repackaged (Re: ESXi 5.5 ASUS H97M Plus, Intel I218-V "No Network Adapters" Error) ?

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peetz
Leadership
Leadership

Hi lopezal1,

the net-e1000e package in the V-Front Online Depot *is* the package that GLRoman created, but it is the original version that misses the 1502 and 1503 device IDs (that were added later by cmcallen).

If GLRoman agrees then I will update the package in the Depot to include the missing device IDs.

Andreas

Twitter: @VFrontDe, @ESXiPatches | https://esxi-patches.v-front.de | https://vibsdepot.v-front.de
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VIR2AL3X
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hipeetz!

OK, great!  I would definitely recommend updating the package to include the missing drivers and don't feel that GLRoman would object based on the following comment from him (#68 in this thread - https://communities.vmware.com/message/2444283#2444283).  He doesn't have a 1503 to test with so he did not include in the driver.  I can confirm that it works perfectly though Smiley Happy

Please let me know if you will update, thx much!

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peetz
Leadership
Leadership

Okay, I updated the package in the Online Depot:

Net-e1000e - V-Front VIBSDepot Wiki

Andreas

Twitter: @VFrontDe, @ESXiPatches | https://esxi-patches.v-front.de | https://vibsdepot.v-front.de
VIR2AL3X
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

peetz Excellent!  Thanks so much!  I will give this a test later this evening and see how it works.  Which version of the customizer should I use and will a newer version be released to fix the issues found it v2.7.2?

Alex.

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peetz
Leadership
Leadership

Hi Alex,

follow the steps here: http://www.v-front.de/2014/12/how-to-make-your-unsupported-nic-work.html

and use ESXi-Customizer-PS.

Thanks

Andreas

Twitter: @VFrontDe, @ESXiPatches | https://esxi-patches.v-front.de | https://vibsdepot.v-front.de
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sajadzero
Contributor
Contributor

Hello dear

can you upload iso for l218-v nic driver

regards

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scotte30m3
Contributor
Contributor

https://tinkertry.com/install-esxi-5-5-with-realtek-8111-or-8168-nic

Use above link for ESXi 5.5 and the below link for ESXi 6.x

http://www.vdicloud.nl/2015/02/07/realtek-nic-on-vsphere-6/

Had this same issue with an ASROCK H97M Anniversary Board. I was able to find the Realtek 8111GR VIB file here and to get this NIC to work for ESXi 6.0

Hope this helps someone else that having the same issues.

Scott

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zorfy
Contributor
Contributor

Hi guys,

I'm still having this problem with esxi 6.0u2. I checked the compatibility and it shows this network adapter as being compatible from version 5.5u3 to 6.0u2. But I still get the same error with no network adapter.

Built:

Asus b85m-gamer motherboard

4gb ram dd3

e3-1280v3

intel corporation ethernet connection 2 I218-v Class 0200: 8086:15a1

I tried injecting older versions of the drivers that I found online, but to no avail.

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VIR2AL3X
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

zorfy‌ - When are you receiving this error and are you using a customized ESXi ISO or the OEM default from VMware?  As of version 5.5U3 release, the e1000e driver was reintroduced into the default OEM image from VMware so there should be no need to add anything extra.  The latest ESXi 6.0 Us ISO includes the following driver for that NIC (I218-V) so everything should work.

According to the compatibility guide, it is supported but there is actually a newer version.  Instead of version "2.5.4-6vmw", the latest is version "3.2.2.1-1vmw"

2016-11-10_10-04-27.png

If you have a current installation, you can SSH into your host and run either if the following:

esxcli software vib list

Look for net-e1000e...

2016-11-10_10-22-11.png

esxcli software vib get -n net-e1000e

you should see the following details...

2016-11-10_10-23-43.png

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zorfy
Contributor
Contributor

Hi lopzal1,

The esxi is not installed, i could not get pass the installation. I receive the network adapter error after the install loads up.

This is very strange because my NIC should be supported by the latest ESXi images.

I thought that there is something wrong with the integrated NIC, and the motherboard does not see it, so to test this i installed windows 7, and there is no problem with it. The motherboard also has the latest version of firmware on it.

I tried installing 5.5u3, 6.0, 6.0u1 and 6.0u2 (with no modifications) and i also tried injecting ( using vmware power shell) the older 2.5.4-6vmw drivers in the mentioned images, but still noting.

Is there any workaround for this ?

Thanks

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VIR2AL3X
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

zorfy‌ - OK I think I may have stumbled upon something here, but first would like to know where you obtained your specs that identify your onboard NIC as being an I218-V?

I did some quick research, and from what I was able to gather, your onboard NIC is not an Intel I218-V but rather a Qualcomm Atheros "Killer E2200".  This would explain why the NIC is not detected because it is not supported.  You have a few options though if this is your only system...

  1. Purchase a supported Intel PCI-E Network adapter and plug it into your motherboard. (Recommended)
  2. Create a customized ESXi ISO and inject the net-atl1 and/or net-atl1e drivers which may detect the NIC.  These 2 drivers don't officially show any support for that NIC but they are the only Atheros drivers I could find.  I've included them both below if you manually want to inject them.

If you are unfamiliar with creating your own customized ESXi 6.0 ISO, I have attached the link to a video I made last year which goes over the process using ESXi-Customizer-PS created by peetz‌ from http://v-front.de.

My Blog Video: https://ithinkvirtual.com/videos/create-a-custom-esxi-image-with-esxi-customizer-ps-script/

or directly from my youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_-jNxf-xPU

If you decide to use the method detailed in the video to load the attached drivers by pulling them directly from the repository, you would use the following parameters:

-v60 -vft -load net-atl1,net-atl1e -nsc

if you downloaded the files instead, place them into a directory named "pkg", then your parameters would be:

-v60 -pkgDir <path-do-folder> -nsc

Keep me posted.

-Alex

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zorfy
Contributor
Contributor

I found out what the NIC is by following this procedure:

Network cards not detected on an ESXi/ESX host (1034782) | VMware KB

I also tried creating a custom image with the drivers you recommended.

PowerCLI C:\users\catalin\downloads> ./esxi-customizer-ps-v2.4.ps1 -v60 -vft -load net-atl1,net-atl1e -nsc

Script to build a customized ESXi installation ISO or Offline bundle using the VMware PowerCLI ImageBuilder snapin
(Call with -help for instructions)

Logging to C:\Users\Catalin\AppData\Local\Temp\ESXi-Customizer-PS.log ...

Running with PowerShell version 5.1 and VMware vSphere PowerCLI 5.1 Release 1 build 793510

Connecting the VMware ESXi Online depot ... [OK]

Connecting the V-Front Online depot ... [OK]

Getting Imageprofiles, please wait ... [OK]

Using Imageprofile ESXi-6.0.0-20161004001-standard ...
(dated 10/14/2016 11:38:07, AcceptanceLevel: PartnerSupported,
For more information, see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2147330.)

Load additional VIBs from Online depots ...
  Add VIB net-atl1 2.1.3-1 [New AcceptanceLevel: CommunitySupported] [OK, added]
  Add VIB net-atl1e 1.0.1.14-1 [OK, added]

Exporting the Imageprofile to 'C:\users\catalin\downloads\ESXi-6.0.0-20161004001-standard-customized.iso'. Please be patient ...

All done.


However... it still did not work, I got the same error.

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VIR2AL3X
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

zorfy‌, thanks for letting me know.  It was a shot-in-the-dark chance that it might work with those drivers but I had a feeling that it wouldn't since they are not meant for the E2200 NIC that your board has.  Somehow the method you used to determine the NIC gave you an incorrect result. 

Your only option now, if you'd like to use that board, is to purchase a supported PCI-E network adapter/card and disregard the onboard.  Once you plug in the supported card and run the installer, it will detect a NIC present. 

I sent you a cheap single-port Intel (82574L) card link from amazon in the previous message.  I can confirm that it works as I also have one in one of my "whitebox" hosts.  There are also other options if you'd like to have more than a single port such as a dual-port Intel (82576) card.  Both suggestions are gigabit cards, and I use them both in one of my systems.  I'd suggest grabbing these and trying again.  If you do so, please report back and let me know.

-Alex

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zorfy
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks Alex,

I'll buy a new card in this case, I hope it will work Smiley Happy

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ranxueruo
Contributor
Contributor

     Can you open the four posts you listed in 39th floor.

     thanks

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