ESXi 6.7 Installing new VM from ISO on NFS Share

[TJWNet]

Hello,

I have tried searching for a few days an came up with no real answers. I am looking to make the switch from Citrix to VMWare and testing out ESXi 6.7

What I am trying to do is install windows from an iso located on a NFS network share data store but the VM isnt connecting the virtual CD/DVD drive. When I try to attach an ISO, it sees it and I can select it but during boot it goes straight to PXE and doesn't recognize there is anything connected to the optical drive.

1. I have made the optical drive the first in the boot sequence.

2. I have tried selecting optical drive from boot selection menu.

3. The ISO is bootable as it works fine when I upload it to the local data store (not over the network) and boot the VM and also works fine in other tests.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[daphnissov]

Have you checked to ensure that the datastore ISO which is configured for the VM is attached? If in question, feel free to post a screenshot of your VM's configuration.

[TJWNet]

Thanks for the reply. Here is some screenshots with annotations. I hope this answers some questions.

Edit: Just realize I don't have the optical drive as first boot device in this example but I have before. (i have removed and recreated the VM multiple times) however, it is listed before PXE boot.

[daphnissov]

That last screenshot...see where it says "Connected" then "No"? The ISO isn't connected to the VM although it's defined in the configuration. Edit the config and try to manually connect the ISO file.

[TJWNet]

Both the working and non-working ISO show 'Connected No" before the VM is started. When the VM is started, the Local datastore ISO will show 'Connected Yes' and the NFS datastore will show 'Connected No'

Here is some screen shots of the config for the CD/DVD drive with the non-working ISO selected. It has a check mark in the 'Connect' check box and, when expanded, shows a check mark in the 'Connect at power on' check box.

[daphnissov]

On the one that won't connect, power on the VM and leave it powered on. Go edit the VM configuration. Attempt to connect the ISO that is already configured. Will it connect?

[TJWNet]

Started VM, went to settings, then to CD/DVD and the 'Connect' box was checked so I attempted to un-check it so I could re-check it. Got some error messages. See image.

[daphnissov]

It's looking like this particular ISO is damaged in some way. I'd recommend getting another copy to replace the one you currently have. At the very least, hash the file and compare it with a newly-downloaded one to see if there are missing bits. It sounds like there may be.

[TJWNet]

That very same ISO from theNFS share was copied to my local machine (directly from the NFS share) and then uploaded to the ESXi datastore and it works there. Just not via the NFS share.

[TJWNet]

Ok, I decided to go outside the box (the ESXi box as it were) and check the NFS share settings. Although the account used to originally mount the NFS share inside of the ESXi had full permissions, I decided to delete and re-create that user. I then deleted and re-added the NFS share to the ESXi datastore list and automagically the ISO now boots fine. I sort of figured this had to be a PEBKAC issue as something as simple as a network ISO boot shouldn't be this big of an issue.

Thanks daphnissov for the assistance.

[daphnissov]

Good to know.

[huchord]

Hi - this sounds like exactly what I need to do.

I'm using FreeNAS as the NFS server.

You say to "delete and re-create that user".

Can you elaborate on how you did that?

Thanks,

Scott