Setup

• Closed lab (no internet access)
• One Physical switch
• 4 working ESXi VM Hosts
• One Windows 10 Pro PC - with installed VMWare Workstation 14
• 2 other Windows 10 Pro PCs
• All static IP addresses;   No Servers (no active directory), DHCP, Domain Controllers, etc.
• All VMWare products are currently evaluation licenses.

Note: newbie user...

Description:

So, I've set up a lab environment with ESXi VM Hosts (mix of 6.5 and 6.7), populated with VM guests (Windows 10, FreeNAS, VyOS) - everything works as it should.

I'm trying to incorporate vCenter into the picture:

• With the VCSA 6.7 DVD (from .iso), tried to install the .ova as a VM in VMW-Workstation 14
• Entered information in all the configuration sections - Network, SSO, root password, etc., but I skipped the "Upgrade" section.
• Configured the VCSA as "VSC with embedded PSC", "tiny" sizing option.

When the VCSA VM plays, I see:

• photon splash screen
• photon login prompt  (for a few seconds)
• bunch of log messages
  • sda disk caches messages
  • [OK] DCUI started
  • [OK] DCDI stopped
  • etc...

And then, I get a blank screen with a "_"

I'm able to get the Photon login prompt if I use ALT-F1/ALT-F2  (just like for the ESXi VM Host) but I cannot login using the root/password entered at the VM configuration.

Appreciate any help for troubleshooting this situation.

Thanks!