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ebaad
Contributor
Contributor

Install ESXi 5.5 on a blank machine

Hello,

I have a bare blank machine with Core i7, 1TB HD and all the bells and whistles. Downloaded install file ISO and

VMvisor Installer 5.5.0 and created a custom ISO with bootbank. Installed with a USB stick on local 1 TB HD.

When trying to reboot it goes to BIOS and does not recognize the VMware install on HD.

Have repeated the routine several times to make sure that it is done correctly, still no luck starting the ESXi 5.5.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks.

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9 Replies
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Welcome to the Community,

ESXi is primarily built for server hardware and may or may not run on desktop systems. Anyway, please provide some more details like the exact specifications of your hardware. From what I understand you created a custom installation (what did you add/modify?). Can you confirm the host's BIOS is configured to boot from the disk and the boot partition on the disk is set as the "active" partition.

André

Note: Discussion moved from Community Website Help to VMware ESXi 5

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TomHowarth
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Have you verified that your Host BIOS is configured to Boot from USB?  Also have a check on the VMware HCL to confirm that your Hardware is on the supported list,  other devices may work but if you take your starting point from the HCL you will get a working system.

Tom Howarth VCP / VCAP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: http://www.planetvm.net
Contributing author on VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment
Contributing author on VCP VMware Certified Professional on VSphere 4 Study Guide: Exam VCP-410
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ebaad
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks much for the quick response, my complete list of HW is,

- Intel Core i7-4770 3.4 GHz (not the K version as I read that any Alpha versions do not work with ESXi)

- Asus H87M-E MB

- 1 TB Seagate HD

- 8 GB PNY DDR3 12800 1600MHz RAM

Downloads,

- VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.5 - Binaries

ESXi ISO image (Includes VMware Tools)

2013-09-22 | 5.5.0 | 326M | .iso

- VMware_bootbank_net-r8168_8.013.00-3vmw.510.0.0.799733

This is to detect 8196 RealTek NIC card

- Created a custom ISO with RUFUS


CPU/MB setting

- Disabled the "disable NX bit"

- Internal virtualization technology enabled

Installed the ESXi 5.5, reboot the machine and it cannot find the newely installed OS/App.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks.

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

I can't tell you for sure whether this will work. However, I'd try the following:

  • enable the "NX Bit" (this is required for several functions as well as some guest operating systems) Make sure you power-cycle (power off/on) the PC after changing and saving the BIOS setting!
  • use the VMware Front Experience: ESXi-Customizer to create a custom ISO image
  • burn the image to a CD and run the interactive installation

André

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Linjo
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Had problems with Rufus in the past, I could not get it to get it to get the USB stick bootable and it sounds like this is the issue here.

My usual way around this is to do the actual install on VMware Workstation and when completed simply move the USB-stick to the host and set it to boot from USB.

// Linjo

Best regards, Linjo Please follow me on twitter: @viewgeek If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
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ebaad
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks much for the response a.p. and linjo, from the following,

  • enable the "NX Bit" (this is required for several functions as well as some guest operating systems) Make sure you power-cycle (power off/on) the PC after changing and saving the BIOS setting!   DONE
  • use the VMware Front Experience: ESXi-Customizer to create a custom ISO image   DONE
  • burn the image to a CD and run the interactive installation   will try this and report back for if it worked or not

It looks strange though, for most people ESXi worked on several different ways and platforms, but mine is just simple install

on a brand new machine and it is not working so far.


Thanks.


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ebaad
Contributor
Contributor

Hello,

Lastly burned a bootable CD from ImgBurn and installed ESXi 5.5 on local HD, but it resulted the same...no luck so far.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Maybe your mainboard/BIOS doesn't support booting from a GPT partitioned disk (the default with ESXi 5.x). What you can do in this case is to install ESXi by forcing it to use MBR partitioning. To do this press Shift-O while it shows up on the ESXi boot screen and append formatwithmbr to the command line.

With already existing GPT partitions on the disk, you may need to "clean" the current partition table using e.g. diskpart or gparted. However, that's something you may only need to do if the installation with the above mentioned option doesn't work.

André

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ebaad
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks everybody for all the support, finally I stumbled upon two BIOS settings that seems to have fixed the booting issue,

- EHCI handoff (Enabled)

- Secure boot menu (Enabled other OS besides Windows)

Now I am at the point where I have the ESXi OS loaded on the new PC and I am off to the next step. Pics for the BIOS settings are attached herewith.

Will keep you posted for any other issues encountered.

Thanks again and everybody have a Happy New Year!!!

140101024236.gif

140101024303.gif

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