ESXi3.5U3 Upgrade to ESXi4 by vSphere update Utility Error: Unsupported Host - Unsupported Boot Disk Layout

[Xeno_Sean]

When I try to Upgrade my ESXi3.5 server (Which is Xeon E5310 on ASUS DSBV/SAS box with 5 SATA unRAID Disk on SAS controller) to ESXi4

I got Error: Unsupported Host - Unsupported Boot Disk Layout

What can I do now? Is it bug or just do not support local disk boot?

[esxtek]

Yes. So looks like for some reason the scratch partition was not created on vmhba1:0:0 which is needed during upgrade. Also there is no free space left on the disk to create it manually. The best option would be a fresh install.

[TechFan]

It didn't matter for me. I deleted the entire VMFS partition and it still wouldn't upgrade. . .I did a fresh install and it still wouldn't upgrade. I think it was setting the partition sizes too small with the auto install somehow. . .

[dragancili]

Did anyone tried this - you have server with 3.5U4 installable on it, create USB stick with esxi 4 on it (of course you cannot upgrade because of boot partition problem), boot new esxi 4 server and restore VM that already existed on 3.5 version from datastore? My main problem is where to backup 1.5TB???

Successfully?

Best regards,

Dragan

[esxtek]

So are you asking if the VM from 3.5 will work on 4?

[esxtek]

In case of such scenarios if a fresh install of ESXi4 is possible then its recommended.

[dragancili]

No, I'm not asking if VM will work on ESXi 4...I know that they will. I'm asking how to override this upgrade problem in case I don't have enough storage to backup my VM's.

Is it possible to install ESXi 4 on USB and boot server and then associate VM's with it?

Regards,

Dragan