For those like me who would like to check ESXi 3.5 update 2 but don’t want to install on a local harddisk. Here’s a good pdf about how to install it on a USB memory key. It’s fairly easy and I just booted my IBM X61 laptop with ESXi.
In short:
- First get the following tools: 7-Zip(Free), WinImage(Demo)
- Download the ESXi ISO
- Open the ISO with 7-Zip
- Extract “install.tgz”
- Open “install.tgz” with 7-Zip
- Click on “install.tar”
- Browse to “usr\lib\vmware\installer\”
- Open “VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0_Update_2-103909.i386.dd.bz2″
- Extract “VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0_Update_2-103909.i386.dd”
- Open WinImage and go to Disk, click on “Restore Virtual Harddisk Image on physical drive”
- Select a physical drive
- Select “VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0_Update_2-103909.i386.dd”
- And click “yes” to write the DD image to the USB Disk
Done! For a more detailed procedure check the pdf above, it also includes screenshots!
vSphere 4.0 Quick Start Guide
That’s an interesting option, but the PDF link is either wrong or not available at the moment…
The following link “http://communities.vmware.com/blogs/Knorrhane/2008/01/21/installing-esx-3i-on-usb-stick” has the setup details as well.
the website is down Bert, the link should be correct cause I double checked it this afternoon.
Did ESXi see your local storage and nic on the X61? If so what partno. does the X61 you use have? I’m looking for a laptop that works with ESXi 3.5u2 without any nfs or other storage attached
Here’s how I did it using Ubuntu (as I don’t have Windows on my home PC):
http://www.iki.fi/kuparine/comp/vmware/esxionusb.html
For those looking for a WinImage alternative I successfully used “DD for Windows” found here: http://www.chrysocome.net/dd
I used:
dd bs=1M if=VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-67921.i386.dd of=\\?\Device\Harddisk1\Partition0 –progress
I found the path to my removable drive by using the “dd –list” command and then looking in the “NT Block Device Objects” list for the first removable media where the size was the same as my USB flash drive.
Not as sleek as WinImage, but since this is GPL and the only time I expect to ever write a DD image file to a drive, it is much easier than registering yet another piece of software.
I have moved the guide to my new site http://www.vminfo.nl/?p=29
sorry for the inconvenience.
I have updated the guide for ESX version 3.5 u2.
Best regards,
Remon Lam – VMinfo.nl
I’ve seen that you’re using an “old” link to the guide.
I have moved it to my new site that is dedicated to virtualization.
On the site below you can find the new version of the guide, I have tested it with the latest version of ESX 3i Update 2 and it’s still working fine.
Here’s the direct link to the guide: http://www.vminfo.nl/?p=29
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Best regards,
Remon Lam – VMinfo.nl
I cannot boot the USB flashdisk (2GB), I get error “Panic: Cannot get disk parameters.”
Motherboard is miniATX Gigabyte with G33 chipset (GA-G33M-DSR2. Looks as SYSLINUX problem.
I got the same error “Panic: Cannot get disk parameters” using GA-EP35-DS3P
[...] install to it. Instead it just found the pair of Hard Disks. A quick search revealed this article http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2008/07/29/esxi-35-update-2-on-a-usb-memory-key/. – I of course skipped all the bits about downloading software, as I was doing this on a Linux [...]
[...] http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2008/07/29/esxi-35-update-2-on-a-usb-memory-key/ [...]
All I get is:
Panic: Cannot get disk parameters.
Did anybody solve this?
Best regards,
chris
[...] ESXi 3.5 Update 2 on a USB memory key » Yellow Bricks (tags: vmware virtualization usb key install boot embedded esxi) steve on November 8th, 2008 | Filed under 15 | [...]
Booting ESXi from a Gigabyte mobo seems to be problematic, I read this at more forums. Seems the Gigabyte mobo doesn’t emulate the USB stick as an HDD or so.
I’ve seen about 500 iterations of the “how to boot ESXi from USB”, but is there a solution for booting ESXi but defining an internal SATA as the installation target?
I wonder if there’s a way to edit the boot sector of the DDed USB stick and trick the installer into thinking it’s a CD-ROM device and thus seek an appropriate target on the host?
Wow, that boots fast! It worked for me.
Know I need to figure out how to create images in it. I am guessing I need the VM Infrastructure client right?
Will ESXi run on any hardware?
No it will not, check this website about whitebox info: http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/Whiteboxes_SATA_Controllers_for_ESX_3.5_3i.htm
How do you configure the static ip and netowrk device to come up at every boot properly configured. I find I have to set the IP and network card every boot.
Also, does it support networking teaming and 9000 MTU?
Had a minor issue with Winimage (failed to write to usb stick with Vista Ultimate 64 bit), but that worked fine (same USB stick) under XP pro 32 bit.
Running nicely on an EVGA 680i motherboard, sees the NIC’s.
Re the Gigabyte USB boot problems. I was having the same on a GA-MA790GP-DS4H.
What solved it for me was image backup via Acronis Trueimage Workstation, then writing back to USB. Worked like a charm!
Thanks for a great guide.
I used this in combination with some other information on the Internet to add support for more hardware.
My own guide, pluss references to all the other web sites I used, can be found here: http://blog.torh.net/2009/02/22/running-vmware-esxi-hypervisor/
@MikeinBrighton
How’d you get that to work? Trying to do a image backup of the USB key, but I get errors.
[...] the oem.tgz – then pack it all back up neat and tidy in the install.tgz and replace it 2. Boot ESX off a USB key using this article since it will all be in memory anyhow and the VMs will be on your SATA drive. 3. Give up and then [...]
If you use Windows Vista then winimage will not work. try using diskimg (http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=12 )
or other disk image tool.
[...] to Duncan Epping’s post on Yellow Bricks for the following [...]
I followed these instructions as well as the ones at http://vmetc.com/2008/02/05/create-your-own-bootable-esx-3i-usb-stick/ for 3.5i U3 and booting fails with:
PANIC: Error while reading file: -3, vmkernel.gz
Has anyone made this work with U3?
Yes. Worked for me on U3.
General question – is the general idea of installing on USB memory drive for people to just try it, then install ‘for real’ on a drive or something? I ask because I know flash drives have limited read/write life cycles so how long will it run on a USB key before that’s a concern? I guess if it’s more than a few years then who cares, right?
I used a 2.0 GB stick BTW…
Thanks.
I use it primarily for testing. I know people who use it at home for running ESXi on PC’s without a supported hdd controller.
I use it for testing on a home server, but a few of the blades out there come with what is essentially a USB stick inside the server with ESXi pre-installed.
There’s very little disk writing going on (just config files really), so it should in theory be incredibly reliable.
Ewan
I’ve made One-Size-Fits-All USB Multi-boot Flash Drive
using nice instruction http://realwindfall.blogspot.com/2009/04/one-size-fits-all-usb-multi-boot-flash.html.
Now I have:
- Mini-Xp from Hiren’s boot CD
- Knoppix
- Puppy Linux
- DOS (Yes!)
on my OCZ Raly 2 USB flash drive (32 Gb).
[...] vendor-server. I also created a bootable ESXi USB-stick (which would be a little bit faster). Check this site for creating a bootable ESXi [...]
“quote” 19. MikeinBrighton said,
January 23rd, 2009 at 16:40
Re the Gigabyte USB boot problems. I was having the same on a GA-MA790GP-DS4H.
What solved it for me was image backup via Acronis Trueimage Workstation, then writing back to USB. Worked like a charm!
“quote”
image back-up from what? From the USB itself or a working SATA with ESXi already on it?
I get the same error Gigabyte P35DS3-R
I guess all people with Gigabye mobo’s are getting this error: Panic: Cannot get disk parameters.
image back-up from what? From the USB itself or a working SATA with ESXi already on it?
has anyone got an answer to this question
I am also getting panic message when I try and boot from USB key created following above instructions.
[...] de stick lang genoeg mee gaat. Om esxi op een usb stick te draaien heb je een handige howto op: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2008/07…sb-memory-key/ Graag hoor ik inderdaad ook wat andere mensen voor oplossing hebben. Weet iemand bijv. waar esxi [...]
[...] – then pack it all back up neat and tidy in the install.tgz and replace it 2. Boot ESX off a USB key using this article since it will all be in memory anyhow and the VMs will be on your SATA drive. 3. Give up and then [...]
[...] found a very good guide to accomplish this out on yellowbricks.com While it does the trick, a slightly “nicer” explanation can be found here on Vladan [...]
[...] ESXi not recognize your hard drives? Not a problem, create a bootable thumb drive!ESXi 3.5 Update 2 on a USB memory key [...]
[...] awhile to get right. That last step involved writing a raw disk image to the thumb drive. The instructions I had found said to use a utility called WinImage to write the disk image, but I wasn’t able to get the [...]
[...] this is using Linux and some more or less standard programs. You can also do this on Windows, just follow this guide from Yellow Bricks which is the guide I used to make this [...]
[...] ESXi to a thumb drive was super easy. I just followed these instructions. The thumb drive plugs into the connector inside the case and doesn’t get in the [...]
ive booted the usb after i did the instruction on doomdog.knows.it
Just to add that WinImage seems to work fine under Windows Vista if you run it as administrator. Then you can use it to “Restore Virtual Harddisk Image on physical drive” and select your USB stick from the list.
hi
I have ESXi 3.5 Update 5 on a USB memory key
when I boot my machine I have this
PANIC: Failed to find USB boot partition
think’s
[...] ESXi 3.5 Update 2 on a USB memory key » Yellow Bricks (tags: and usb embedded boot virtualization vmware esx esxi key install) [...]
[...] while the popular virtualization blog Yellow-Bricks offers a handy guide that breaks down putting VMWare onto a USB drive into 13 (relatively) easy steps. .topsy_widget_shortcode,div.topsy-sm {display:inline;} .post {padding-left: 10px;} [...]