Automatically load from CD in EFI mode in VMware VM

[juliav]

I have a running VMware ESXi 6.0.0 host with ESXi Shell and SSH enabled. With the help of vim-cmd commands I am able to automatically create and start virtual machines there. I am able to boot to CD automatically in BIOS mode, however not in EFI mode. I've enable 'EFI' mode by adding

firmware='efi' 

in the virtual machine's configuration (.vmx) file, connected to iso image, but end up in EFI boot manager, rather then booting to CD. The problem is that while booting in EFI and CD is the first boot option it produces the message:

Press any key to boot from CD or DVD... 

and awaits a key to be pressed. If no key is pressed it proceeds to EFI boot manager. Is there a way to enable automatical boot from a CD without confirmation in EFI mode?

[dariusd · Accepted solution]

This is a consequence of the way Microsoft have designed their EFI boot process.  The exact same thing happens when booting the installer in EFI mode on Hyper-V and on physical EFI systems.

For workaround instructions, see this article on the Microsoft website: Hyper-V generation 2 virtual machines – part 9 – John Howard – Senior Program Manager in the Hyper-V...

Hope this helps!

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Darius

[juliav]

Yes, that helps. Thank you!