Other than upgrade to 6.7 can I fix metadata errors on vmfs6 on 6.5?

[parahumanoid]

Other than upgrade to 6.7 can I fix metadata errors on vmfs6 on 6.5 installation?

I am running a whitebox with an i7-950 on it, so 6.7 gives immediate "unsupported cpu" error upon booting from install media.  I guess what am looking for is a Live rescue boot that can be loaded with an option to ignore cpu check (running voma -m vmfs -f fix doesn't really require anything special from a cpu) or some other way to carry out this operation on a standalone installation with no vcenter.

I have neither the extra hdd of sufficient size to migrate off of this host, nor am I overly impressed by the speed of such operation.  The VM is in the excess of 2TB in size so I can't really shuffle it back and forth like measly 500MB.

Any live boot solution will do.  It's highly preferabe that I don't alter the running hypervisor installation.  At this point I am interested purely in how it can be done, reagardless of issues of affordability.

[a_p_]

What may work - no guaranties though - is to live boot the host from the ESXi 6.7 CD/ISO by modifying the boot option, i.e. remove the installer part, and add an override for the unsupported CPU.
Once “Loading ESXi Installer” shows up, press Shift+O within 5 seconds, and modify the boot options
from: cdromBoot runweasel
to: cdromBoot allowLegacyCPU=true

Please note that existing VMFS3 datastores will be converted to VMFS5 (just in case you still have VMFS3 datastores).

Make sure that you have a backup in case things don't work as expected!!!

André

[kalweins]

Stage 1 –

Upgrade Download the necessary version from here.

I am starting my upgrade from the VM with OS Windows Server 2019, so I need to connect the downloaded ISO, and move to <CD\DVD-room>:\vcsa-ui-installer\win32\<CD\DVD-room> Now, let’s start the Installer. (installer.exe)

After starting vCenter Server Appliance Installer, click on Upgrade. Move to Introduction and click on Next.

Accept the terms of the license agreement and click on Next.

Upgrading VMware vCenter Server to 6.7u2 Connect to the VCSA via FQDN or IP address. Enter SSO credentials and the credentials of vCenter Server that manages the source vCenter Server. Click on Next.

[a_p_]

@kalweins 

It looks like you replied to the wrong discussion!?

André