{"id":1399,"date":"2013-10-10T05:33:42","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T05:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/?p=1399"},"modified":"2013-10-10T05:34:48","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T05:34:48","slug":"vmware-esxi-step-by-step-installation-guide-with-screenshots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/?p=1399","title":{"rendered":"VMware ESXi step-by-step Installation Guide with Screenshots"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In this article, let us discuss about how to install VMware ESXi.<\/p>\n<p>VMware ESXi is free. However, the software comes with a 60 days evaluation mode. You should register on VMware website to get your free license key to come out of the evaluation mode. Once the ESXi is installed, you can either user vSphere Client on the Direct Console User Interface to administer the host.<\/p>\n<p>VMware ESXi is based on hypervisor architecture that runs directly on top of a hardware as shown below.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"VMWare ESXi\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/static.thegeekstuff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/vmware-esxi-300x187.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"187\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>1. Download ESXi server<\/h3>\n<p>Get the software from the VMware ESXi download page:<\/p>\n<p>http:\/\/www.vmware.com\/products\/vsphere-hypervisor\/<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Following are the various download options available. Select \u201cESXi 4.0 Update 1 Installable (CD ISO) Binary (.iso)\u201d and burn a CD.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>ESXi 4.0 Update 1 Installable (CD ISO)<\/li>\n<li>Upgrade package from ESXi Server 3.5 to ESXi Server 4.0 Update 1<\/li>\n<li>Upgrade package from ESXi Server 4.0 to ESXi Server 4.0 Update 1<\/li>\n<li>VMware vSphere Client and Host Update Utility<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>2. VMware VMvisor Boot Menu<\/h3>\n<p>Once you insert the ESXi CD and reboot the server, it will display a boot menu with an option to launch \u201cESXi Installer\u201d as shown below.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"esxi boot menu\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/static.thegeekstuff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/1-vmvisor-boot-menu.png\" width=\"590\" height=\"177\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>3. VMware ESXi Installer Loading<\/h3>\n<p>While the installer is loading all the necessary modules, it will display the server configuration information at the top as shown below. In this example, I was installing VMware ESXi 4.0 on a Dell PowerEdge 2950 server.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"vmware esxi 4 installer loading\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/static.thegeekstuff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/2-vmware-esxi-installer-loading.png\" width=\"481\" height=\"288\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>4. New ESXi Install<\/h3>\n<p>Since this is a new installation of ESXi, select \u201cInstall\u201d in the following screen.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"VMware ESXi 4.0 Install Prompt\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/static.thegeekstuff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/3-vmware-esxi-install-prompt.png\" width=\"679\" height=\"286\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>5. Accept VMware EULA<\/h3>\n<p>Read and accept the EULA by pressing F11.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"VMware ESXi Server EULA\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/static.thegeekstuff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/4-vmware-esxi-accept-eula-300x258.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"258\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>6. Select a Disk to Install VMware ESXi<\/h3>\n<p>VMware ESXi 4.0.0 Installer will display all available disk groups. Choose the Disk where you would like to install the ESXi. It is recommended to choose the Disk0.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"VMware ESXi howto Select Disk for Install\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/static.thegeekstuff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/5-vmware-esxi-select-disk.png\" width=\"594\" height=\"442\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>7. Confirm ESXi Installation<\/h3>\n<p>Confirm that you are ready to start the install process.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"ESXi Virtual Machine Confirm Install\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/static.thegeekstuff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/6-vmware-esxi-confirm-install-300x80.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"80\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>8. Installation in Progress<\/h3>\n<p>The installation process takes few minutes. While the ESXi is getting installed, it will display a progress bar as shown below.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"ESX Server Installing\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/static.thegeekstuff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/7-vmware-esxi-installing.png\" width=\"570\" height=\"147\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>9. ESXi Installation Complete<\/h3>\n<p>You will get the following installation completed message that will prompt you to reboot the server.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"VM Ware Installation Completed\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/static.thegeekstuff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/8-vmware-install-complete-300x201.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>10. ESXi Initial Screen<\/h3>\n<p>After the ESXi is installed, you\u2019ll get the following screen where you can configure the system by pressing F2.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"VMware hypervisor esxi 4.0 initial screen\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/static.thegeekstuff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/10-vmware-esxi-launched1.png\" width=\"511\" height=\"343\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>thanks,<\/p>\n<p>MSGeek<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this article, let us discuss about how to install VMware ESXi. VMware ESXi is free. However, the software comes with a 60 days evaluation mode. You should register on VMware website to get your free license key to come out of the evaluation mode. Once the ESXi is installed, you can either user vSphere [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-virtualization-vmware"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1399"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1401,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399\/revisions\/1401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}