Installing vmware esxi 6.0 on pcie M.2 SSD

[Oluap110]

Hi!

I am trying to install and boot the esxi 6 on a pcie M.2 SSD(i'm using an adapter). My server is a Poweredge R610 with a H700 raid.

During the installation everything went well and the SSD was listed, but now I can't boot on the SSD because it isn't listed in UEFI.

[Kinnison · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Boot from NVME device requires support via the machine's BIOS, something that such an old system never seems to have had.
Some NVME devices have a so-called "Legacy Option ROM" which can overcome the problem, but they are not common in the typical consumer market, then there are those who resort to other "bridge" solutions to get around the problem but all this, however, does not have nothing to do with VMware technologies.

Regards,
Ferdinando

[Oluap110]

Sorry, I thought it had something to do with vmware, but can you tell me how can I do these other "bridge" solution?

[Kinnison]

Hello,

They essentially use things known as "EFI bootloaders", but I've never had reason to use one so I don't feel like making any recommendations. But if we want, personal opinion, the point of the discussion is another, for booting ESXi even a cheap "mechanical" disk is adequate and you would save yourself several potential problems.

Regards,
Ferdinando

[Oluap110]

Ok, thanks. I will try to use EFI bootloaders.

[Oluap110]

Sorry to be here again, but isn't the "Legacy Option ROM" (in the first answer) for systems with Bios (without UEFI)?

If so, my server has UEFI.

[Kinnison]

Hello,

No, some NVME SSD had a built-in "Option ROM" to make them usable as "legacy boot devices" in (some) systems that did not have native support for them but they are now uncommon, some adapters allowed the same to be achieved. Your system was not designed to boot from a pure NVME drive so its "bios" lacks the necessary code and it's so dated that no one (reasonable) thought to implement it at a later time.

In rather general terms, hardware aimed at the enterprise market is designed for use in those specific contexts, where anything that can compromise its reliability or complicate its supportability always translates into potentially economically significant damage.

Regards,
Ferdinando

[Oluap110]

OK, thanks.