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ABxD
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No 'UPGRADE option available after failed installation of ESXi 6.0 on a stand-alone host

Dear All, I have a stand-alone ESXi 5.0 host which I was trying to install 6.0 on. The installation failed due to missing drivers of NIC card r8168. Anyways, I have created a new ISO using ESXi Customizer utility and ready to do the installation once again from the new ISO. The problem now is that there is no 'upgrade' option available when I try to upgrade it, I am only getting 'Install' options which will wipe out the existing configs etc completely. In summary: The host is still running fine and no issues with it. The issue is that ESXi 6.0 installer founds no existing ESXi installation on the host and suggest an installation instead of an upgrade option, this has happened after a few failed attempts to run the upgrade. I found this page on this forum https://communities.vmware.com/thread/445526?start=0&tstart=0 which says the solution is to Move the local.tgz (in /altbootbank/state.xxxxx/) one directory higher. I don't have a clue how to do that. Appreciate any help on which program to use and what commands to run to make sure the old installation is seen by the ESXi 6.0 installer again. Thanks, Abid

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ABxD
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I have managed to successfully UPGRADE my existing host from5.0 to 6.0. To fix the issue I was having, I started the ESXi Shell, authenticated and then checked the contents of both Bootbank and Altbootbank directories using the ls command. Altbootbank was empty. Then I copied all files from /bootbank to /altbootbank using the cp command and then I was able to see the 'upgrade' option again for which I had posted this question. Installation was straight-forward using the custom profile I had created using ESXI Customizer. Thanks for your help anyway, I will close this question now. Regards, Abid

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ABxD
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I have managed to successfully UPGRADE my existing host from5.0 to 6.0. To fix the issue I was having, I started the ESXi Shell, authenticated and then checked the contents of both Bootbank and Altbootbank directories using the ls command. Altbootbank was empty. Then I copied all files from /bootbank to /altbootbank using the cp command and then I was able to see the 'upgrade' option again for which I had posted this question. Installation was straight-forward using the custom profile I had created using ESXI Customizer. Thanks for your help anyway, I will close this question now. Regards, Abid

Phrix
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Thanks!I had the same problem here and your tip solved my problem.

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imsorrydave
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This worked for me going from 6.0 to 6.5 as well.

Thanks for sharing

David

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Fantik
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I had the same problem  and your tip solved my problem.

Thanks!

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KurtPCguy
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I know this is an old post but would it be possible for you to give me a step by step on how you did the copy process

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jovanellynb
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Many thanks. I had to combine this fix with the one in this article.  Saved me several rebuilds!

 

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2007163

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MChatzipavlis
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The following comment from ABxD solved the same issue for us as well "Then I copied all files from /bootbank to /altbootbank using the cp command". Thank you for the info provided 

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