A dynamic ESXi installer (USB) to install any version of ESXi

[M_A_Y]

Hi all

I am in a position that i keep installing new ESXi all the time, by creating a ESXi installer Media (USB) via rufus then insall ESXi from that.

I think if it is possible to create a dynamic ESXi installer Media (USB) and just replace the .iso image by copy&past then it will install the version of the ESXi that .iso file is, than creating multiple ESXi installer Media (USB) for each version of ESXi...

Right now i have 5 USB drives and i am switching between ESXi 5.5U3, 6.0, 6.5U2, 6.7 & 6.7U1, but it will nice to have 1 USB and just switch between .iso files by coping the .iso to the USB drive and start installing.

ZALMAN hard drive is not an uption.

[minivlab]

You could setup a PXE server an host all of the versions of ESXi you need.  Also, I am not 100% positive but you may be able to use Auto Deploy from a host running 6.7U1, I am just not sure if you can deploy older versions of ESXi

[peetz · Accepted solution]

Greetings,

there are several "multiboot" tools available that allow to copy multiple ISO files to a USB drive and to pick one of them to boot from via a menu (e.g. XBoot).

Here is a starting point: https://www.pendrivelinux.com/tag/boot-multiple-isos-from-flash-drive/

Is this what you are looking for?

Andreas

[M_A_Y]

Hi Peetz

Thanks a lot. Yes i was looking for something like Xboot. I have tried it and did some tests with my HPE server.

Even though XBoot does not support UEFI boot endnu, but it works find with legacy BIOS...

Thanks once again.