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vSphere ESXi on a USB memory stick

Duncan Epping · Jun 9, 2009 ·

***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:

  1. First get the following tools: 7-Zip(Free), WinImage(Demo)
  2. Download the ESXi ISO (VMware-VMvisor-Installer-4.0.0-164009.x86_64.iso)
  3. Open the ISO with 7-Zip
  4. Open “image.tgz” with 7-Zip
  5. Browse to “image.tgz.temptarusrlibvmwareinstallerVMware-VMvisor-big-164009-x86_64.dd.bz2”
  6. Extract “VMware-VMvisor-big-164009-x86_64.dd”
  7. Open WinImage and go to Disk, click on “Restore Virtual Harddisk Image on physical drive”
  8. Select a physical drive
  9. Select “VMware-VMvisor-big-164009-x86_64.dd”
  10. 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

Related

Server esxi, Howto, vSphere

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jas says

    9 June, 2009 at 17:05

    Just wonder how was the initial bootup loading and performance?

  2. Ricky says

    9 June, 2009 at 22:22

    Your Dell GX260 has an x86_64 compatible CPU? 😉

  3. Duncan Epping says

    9 June, 2009 at 22:27

    yes it does… 🙂

  4. Ricky says

    10 June, 2009 at 03:41

    I guess I’m just dyslexic… I misread that as GX260 instead of GX620. 😛

  5. Alastair says

    10 June, 2009 at 11:27

    You can install directly to the USB stick by booting on the install CD, I rebuilt my two BL460c boxes this way.

  6. SimonMcF says

    11 June, 2009 at 03:20

    How big does the USB stick need to be?

  7. Duncan Epping says

    11 June, 2009 at 07:58

    1GB

  8. KnottyMan says

    16 June, 2009 at 22:40

    Also the same as before, you can use dd under linux/cygwin

    dd if=VMware-VMvisor-big-164009-x86_64.dd of= bs=1M

  9. KnottyMan says

    16 June, 2009 at 22:41

    trimmed my brackets….

    of=device (/dev/sdX)

  10. PiroNet says

    17 June, 2009 at 10:23

    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 ?

  11. antowa says

    19 June, 2009 at 09:15

    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?

  12. Stef says

    24 June, 2009 at 12:52

    Winimage is not working on Windows Vista. You can use roadkil diskimage (http://www.roadkil.net/) to write the files to a usb stick…

  13. SOLORI says

    1 September, 2009 at 00:50

    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.

  14. Caden Alexander says

    9 July, 2010 at 17:46

    Tom Cruise have dyslexia and yet he is still a very successful actor..~*

  15. Michael says

    5 October, 2010 at 10:10

    Hi!
    How can I install the vsphere onto USB drive?
    Not to boot from USB but to install it to USB….

    THanks!
    ANy help is much appreciated.

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About the author

Duncan Epping is a Chief Technologist in the Office of CTO of the Cloud Platform BU at VMware. He is a VCDX (# 007), the author of the "vSAN Deep Dive", the “vSphere Clustering Technical Deep Dive” series, and the host of the "Unexplored Territory" podcast.

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