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Create a Bootable ESXi Installer USB Flash Drive

For servers without CD drive or remote KVM you might want to use an USB Flash Drive to install ESXi to the hardware. This post explains how to create a bootable ESXi Installer USB Flash Drive in less than 2 minutes. The Flash Drive will work totally identical to an Installable CD.

esxi-installer-rufus

  1. Download Rufus
  2. Download or create an ESXi image:
  3. Connect the USB flash drive to your computer
  4. Open Rufus
    rufus-icon
  5. Select your Device
  6. Select your ISO file
    rufus-select-iso
  7. Select MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI computers
  8. Press Start
    create-usb-esxi-installer-with-rufus
  9. Select Yes when it asks to replace menu.c32.
    replace-menu-c32-warning
  10. Rufus will now create your bootable ESXi Installer USB Flash Drive. This will take about one minute.
    rufus-copying-iso-files

Additional Hint
When you boot a server with this USB Flash Drive the ESXi Installer will copy the whole installer to the memory which means that you can install ESXi to the device where you are installing from. Just select it during the installation. This also works for diskless ESXi hosts where you want to install ESXi to an SD Card.install-esxi-to-usb-flash-drive

Related posts:

  1. Create an ESXi ISO that contains all Patches
  2. ESXi 5.x Installation on Intel NUC fails with "No Network Adapters"
  3. Building a VSA with Open-E DSS V7 inside ESXi
  4. Howto Install VMware tools on a virtual ESXi
  5. VMware ESXi Support for HP ProLiant Gen9 Servers
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42 thoughts on “Create a Bootable ESXi Installer USB Flash Drive”

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  7. Jon

    Can someone help me figure out why the USB install on my NUC 5i5RYK doesnt see my Transcend 128 GB SSD M.2 drive as an option? The only option available is to install back on the USB.

    Reply

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  12. iKomrad

    Thanks for this guide, I asked how to do this on another thread and my answer was right here! I'm using this for 1st Intel NUC that arrives tomorrow. . So, first NUC, first time using ESXI. It is going to be an adventure!

    Reply

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  22. Edgardo

    I created the USB boot drive with the procedure but didn't work ... in boot sequence appear Unknown Device. What could be the problema?

    Reply
  29. Vitalii

    I tried with the latest version of rofos and it didn't work.
    downloaded 1.3... and was able to create bootable USB.
    Just FYI if any will have the same issue.

    Reply
  30. Hotmail Support

    There is a software called Universal USB Installer by this software you can easily create your USB bootable on Linux. For that, you have to download the software on your system. Before that, you make sure that you have installed the Linux on your computer.

    Reply
  34. Bubo Bubo

    Not working for me, with Rufus the USB is not being bootable, tested in QEMU and on few hardware computers/servers.
    Unetbootin worked just fine, so if you have a probleem making it bootable try Unetbootin.

    Reply
  35. Christian Busch

    how do you delete all the esxi partitions? I tried everything... windows, dd, fdisk. I cannot reformat the usb stick that has a bootable esxi install.

    any advice?

    Reply
    1. Florian Grehl

      Rufus does that automatically. You don't have to delete partitions prior to write the ESXi Image.

      If you want to delete all partitions in windows, use DISKPART.
      Run > diskpart
      DISKPART > list disk (Identify your USB drive)
      DISKPART > select disk x (select your USB drive)
      DISKPART > clean

      Reply
  40. Anonymous

    doesnt work...cannot download menu32

    this option is a poor choice....please find another that doesn't require internet to create a iso....smh.

    Reply
  42. sluge

    I faced with issue: unable to unzip IMGDB.TGZ

    I fixed it with one more copy:

    :UnpackIMGDB
    call :log Unpacking the IMGDB.TGZ file ...
    call :logRun "%SEVENZIP%" x -y -o"%TMPDIR%" "%ISODIR%\IMGDB.TGZ"
    if not "!RC!"=="0" ( call :fatal Error uncompressing IMGDB.TGZ & exit /b 1)
    call :logRun copy "%TMPDIR%\_fdopen_" "%TMPDIR%\IMGDB.tar"
    if not "!RC!"=="0" ( call :fatal Error rename file IMGDB.TGZ & exit /b 1)
    call :logRun "%SEVENZIP%" x -y -o"%IMGDBDIR%" "%TMPDIR%\IMGDB.tar"
    if not "!RC!"=="0" ( call :fatal Error un-taring IMGDB.tar & exit /b 1)

    Reply

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