***Please use this supported method instead of the one below***
The procedure has not changed much since ESXi 3.5 but I thought I would document it anyway. A lot of people seem to end up here by googling “USB ESXi vSphere”.
Here you go:
- First get the following tools: 7-Zip(Free), WinImage(Demo)
- Download the ESXi ISO (VMware-VMvisor-Installer-4.0.0-164009.x86_64.iso)
- Open the ISO with 7-Zip
- Open “image.tgz” with 7-Zip
- Browse to “image.tgz.temptarusrlibvmwareinstallerVMware-VMvisor-big-164009-x86_64.dd.bz2″
- Extract “VMware-VMvisor-big-164009-x86_64.dd”
- Open WinImage and go to Disk, click on “Restore Virtual Harddisk Image on physical drive”
- Select a physical drive
- Select “VMware-VMvisor-big-164009-x86_64.dd”
- And click “yes” to write the DD image to the USB Disk
Done! Now, let’s see if I can get my old Dell GX620 running with vSphere ESXi
vSphere 4.0 Quick Start Guide
Just wonder how was the initial bootup loading and performance?
Your Dell GX260 has an x86_64 compatible CPU?
yes it does…
I guess I’m just dyslexic… I misread that as GX260 instead of GX620.
You can install directly to the USB stick by booting on the install CD, I rebuilt my two BL460c boxes this way.
How big does the USB stick need to be?
1GB
Also the same as before, you can use dd under linux/cygwin
dd if=VMware-VMvisor-big-164009-x86_64.dd of= bs=1M
trimmed my brackets….
of=device (/dev/sdX)
Hi Duncan, I have successfully used your method to deploy ESXi4 on USB keys. The only way to run VMs is to attached a data store via iSCSI, NFS or local drives. Personally I want to use the USB key itself to store my VMs but could not find out a way… Any idea ?
hi,
I had for a couple of month a ESXi 3.5 working fine… how is the procedure to upgrade to ESXi 4? is it safe?
Winimage is not working on Windows Vista. You can use roadkil diskimage (http://www.roadkil.net/) to write the files to a usb stick…
Actually, the method has changed considerably since ESX 3.5. In fact, the CD-ROM installer will find your USB flash drive and install directly to it without resorting to imaging or dd.
http://solori.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/preview-install-esxi-4-0-to-flash/
The process – from CD-boot to initial start-up – is about 14 minutes long, depending on CD-ROM speed and flash speed.