ESXi installation

Prerequisites: USB flash drive (Min. 1 GB) and Windows host

Create a bootable USB flash drive or CD with the latest version of VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi ISO) file. The VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi ISO) file can be found using the following search query on VMware’s download center: Search VMware Download. Please note that all the data will be erased from the USB flash drive.
Download Rufus Portable Edition from our Wiki or using the following link: Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way
Connect the USB flash drive to the Windows computer and run Rufus
Choose the USB flash drive from the drop down list

Replicate the rest of the fields as shown in the picture below and click on “START”

The following instructions were adapted from: Install ESXi Interactively (vmware.com). Feel free to access it for further details or troubleshooting.

Insert the ESXi installer CD/DVD into the CD/DVD-ROM drive, or attach the Installer USB flash drive and restart the machine.
Set the BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM device or the USB flash drive. Please see your hardware vendor documentation for information on changing boot order.
On the Select a Disk page, select the drive on which to install ESXi, and press Enter. Press F1 for information about the selected disk.
Select the keyboard type for the host.
Enter the root password for the host.
When the installation is complete, remove the installation CD, DVD, or USB flash drive.
Set the first boot device to be the drive on which you installed ESXi.

Last updated 3 years ago