Create your own updated ESX 3i – bootable USB stick….

By | January 6, 2008

VCPaul has been so nice to share how he was able to create a bootable USB stick with the latest ESX 3i.

You can read his post in the VMware Community at
http://communities.vmware.com/message/825686

Or read it here:

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Requirements:

  • 1 GB USB flash drive
  • WinImage
  • IZArc

Of course you can use your favourite tools and larger USB flash drives, but 1 GB is enough space for the boot image.

Perform the following steps to create a bootable ESX Server 3i USB flash drive:

  1. Download ESX Server 3i Installable ISO
  2. Extract INSTALL.TGZ from the root directory of the ISO image using an IZArc
  3. Extract /usr/lib/vmware/installer/VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-67921.i386.dd.bz2 from INSTALL.TGZ using IZArc
  4. Extract VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-67921.i386.dd from VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-67921.i386.dd.bz2 using IZArc
  5. Attach the USB flash drive and make sure you no longer need the data on it
  6. Use WinImage to transfer VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-67921.i386.dd to the USB flash drive
    1. Disk->Restore Virtual Hard Disk image on physical drive…
    2. Select the USB flash drive (Warning: If you select the wrong disk you will lose data!)
    3. Select the image file VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-67921.i386.dd
    4. Confirm the warning message
    5. Wait for the transfer to complete
  7. Unplug the USB flash drive (Warning: If you forget to unplug the flash drive from the PC you might lose the data on your hard drives the next time you boot!)
  8. Attach the USB flash drive to the machine you want to boot (Warning: If ESX Server 3i recognizes local drives, you might lose the data on it, so make sure you don´t need it anymore or unplug all hard drives!)
  9. Turn the machine on and make sure the USB flash drive is selected as boot device
  10. Watch ESX Server 3i boot
  11. Configure
  12. Enjoy!

I cannot be held responsible for any damage or loss of data this procedure might cause.

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Hope anyone can use this 🙂
I know I can….

A. Mikkelsen

4 thoughts on “Create your own updated ESX 3i – bootable USB stick….

  1. sanman!

    I have tried this on 2 Dell Servers. PowerEdger T300 and a 2900. The systems will boot with the 3i USB but I can not change the IP address which is set to static 0.0.0.0.
    Any advise or direction appreciated.

  2. Anders

    I’ve experienced the same, but I think it’s because ESX automatically sets the NIC to 1000mbit even if the nic is connected to a 100mbit switch.

  3. Pingback: Virtualization Short Take #1 - blog.scottlowe.org - The weblog of an IT pro specializing in virtualization, storage, and servers

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