Install Esxi 3.5 To An Ide Drive: Home Forum

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Install ESXi 3.5 to an IDE drive

By default, if the ESXi install can not find a supported device to install to, then the installer will
quit with the error message: "Unable to find a supported device to write the VMware ESX Server
3i 3.5.0 image to." If it is the case that the IDE drive in your host is recognized by ESXi, then
you will be able to modify the install script TargetFilter.py to recognize your IDE device as a
supported install device. You can find the list of devices that ESXi can recognize here.
The install process for this can be found below, and a video of the process can be found at the
bottom of this page. This demo was created using a VMware Workstation VM which only had a
4 GB IDE drive.
Install Process
1) If you have encountered the error shown above, you can press ALT-F1 to access the console
of the ESXi install. You'll be prompted for a login and you can use 'root'. The password for root
with be blank. As mentioned above, this process assumes you have an IDE drive that ESXi can
recognize. You can use the command lspci to show the list of devices that ESXi can recognize
and then compare that with this list of devices. Also if you run fdisk -l, you should see your IDE
drive listed.
2) After you have console access you will enter the command vi
/usr/lib/vmware/installer/Core/TargetFilter.py (note that the path and filename are case-
sensitive).
3) Scroll down in the document until you find the section "def IDEFilter(lun)". You will be
changing the text:
return interface.GetInterfaceType() == ScsiInterface.SCSI_IFACE_TYPE_IDE
to
return interface.GetInterfaceType() == ScsiInterface.SCSI_IFACE_TYPE_ISCSI
If you have not used vi before, move the cursor to the end of "TYPE_IDE" and the press the
Insert key. The press backspace to delete IDE and type in ISCSI. Then press the ESC key, type
in the command :wq and press Enter to save the file and exit.
4) You will now be back at the console. If you had stopped the installer at the screen show
below, you can press ALT-F2 to return to the screen and press Enter to start the install, but it will
still generate the error shown in the image above. You will need to press ALT-F1 and then type
in install and press enter.
5) When you run the install command, it is important to note that the installer will switch you
back to the ALT-F2 (DCUI) screen. Press ALT-F1 to return to the console again. You will see
the below screen again with the prompt to press Enter to install. Do so and the install will
proceed.
6) Press F11 on the next screen and you should then see your IDE drive as show below. Press
Enter to continue and after a few minutes the install should complete and you will be prompted
to reboot.
7) After the reboot, you will be able to connect with the VI client and see that ESXi has
installed to and created a VMFS partition on your IDE drive.
Process Video
- 0:32 - Install error is encountered and console mode is accessed
- 0:58 - Editing of TargetFilter.py is started
- 2:05 - TargetFilter.py is saved and install command is run
- 2:50 - Install completes and server is rebooted
- 3:50 - Console is accessed again and fdisk / lspci are run to show that the IDE controller is
vmhba0 and that the install drive is on vmhba0
Comments
[-] ryan 10-24-2008
I tried this but i still get the error stating that it cant be instsalled..
running a dell 4550 with intel P42.4 1gb ddr 120gig maxter ide hd. this should be a supported
chipset. the disk isn't empty, it haS EDUBUNTU ON IT. WILL try to fdisk it and try again. but
any suggestions would be helpful thanks
Ryan
[-] Dave Mishchenko 10-24-2008
Have you checked to see if ESXi can recognize the IDE controller http://www.vm-
help.com/esx/esx3i/Hardware_support.php?
[-] Ryan 10-26-2008
It does but after trying and giving up i decided to try using that hd to install server 03 and using
virtual server 05 and i got an error message saying the drive wasn't working correctly so i will try
again and see what happens
[-] Doug 10-27-2008
Thank you! Worked on an old Toshiba A10 laptop.
[-] Alan 11-03-2008
I did get this to work on an old Dell workstation, but the amount of disk space available to ESXi
is limited to 4gb. The disk itself was something like an 80gb disk. Works for my needs, but it
would be much better with all the disk available. Thanks for the install info, couldn't have gotten
this far without it!
[-] kindlund 11-07-2008
Installing ESX on a system with an IDE disk works perfect; however, I'm trying to patch this
system and it appears that future patches do not work. I've included the output below... any
suggestions?
C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware VI Remote CLI\bin\ESXe350-200808202-T-
UG>remoteInstall.exe -h 127.0.0.241 -u root -p password
progress: 0
progress: 5
progress: 7
progress: 10
Nfc_EstablishAuthdConnectionEx failed
[-] kindlund 11-07-2008
Okay, it looks like a general workaround is:
- SSH directly into the ESXi server
- Manually copy each .zip package over to a local datastore on the ESXi server
- Extract the .zip on the server (this may involve copying each extracted file over manually, since
ESXi shell offers no unzip function)
- chmod +x install.sh
- ./install.sh
- Reboot the ESXi server (especially if it's a new kernel image)
[-] Dave 11-10-2008
Hi Alan, I retried the install on a VM with a 24 GB IDE drive. In this case, ESXi (update 2)
created the usual 750 MB worth of partitions for the ESXi install, then there was a 4 GB FAT16
partition followed by a 19 GB VMFS datastore. If you get a chance I'd be interested to see the
output of fdisk -l from your system.
[-] Barry 11-11-2008
Thank YOU!!! Thank YOU!!! Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank
YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!
You have removed a MAJOR thorn in my side!!
[-] Joe 11-12-2008
I am getting a loop? pc boots from the cd, appears to do an install, and then the machine restarts
and does the same thing. Any ideas??
Thanks
Hi Joe, do you get an install is complete message (see about 2:50 into the video on this page). If
so, is the BIOS of the host set to first boot from the drive instead of CD?
[-] Tschak 11-15-2008
Hi,
is there a workaround to do an remote Update from esxi 3.5 U2 on a IDE HD to esxi 3.5 U3. I
would like to avoide a reinstalltion.
You'll want to use the firmware update patch to upgrade to update 3 instead of the Update 3 CD.
See the methods here - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Patch_3i_without_VC.html. I've
upgraded an IDE install (VMware VM) with no issues using remoteInstall.exe.
[-] duz 11-17-2008
It doesn't work. Put IDE on BIOS.
with lspci, found mass storage controller:
intel corporation 4 port sata IDE controller (ICH9) vmhba0
intel corporation 2 port sata IDE controller (ICH9) vmhba1
with fdisk -l, found nothing!
Any help?
[-] Leed 11-18-2008
Thanks
It is a perfect
What PCI Id are the controllers returning and do you have the drive connected to vmhba0 or 1?
[-] Eddie 11-18-2008
lspci only give me
Mass storage controller: nVidia Corporation
fdisk -l gives me nothing.
Seems it is not finding the sata disk.
You can use lspci -p and lspci -v to get that info.
[-] www.kittycatonline.com 11-20-2008
Thank you! I did this on my Dell Optixplex GX620, and discovered something odd. I first tried
this with a modern 80gb drive installed. The install worked, but ESX only presented me with a
4gb drive. I decided that was a waste of good drive space, and tossed in an old 10gb drive
instead. Oddly enough, this time, ESX gave me 9gb to use! I wonder if there is some odd >32gb
drive limit like you'd see on motherboards with old BIOSes.
[-] www.kittycatonline.com 11-20-2008
I must have been hallucinating. Anyhow, upon pulling the "80gb" drive out and putting it into
another box, it really was a 4gb drive! It looked too clean to be that old. But yeah, in short, it
works.
[-] Erwin 11-22-2008
Hi All
Help!!
I have a ML115 G5, Opteron Quad 1352 standard default kit.
Managed to install ESX 3i build 123629 installed from CDROM on the 250 sata using the above
IDE ammendment.
I have managed to install and will load up to the main screen but after 5 seconds it will purple
screen with exception type 14 in world 2357
Any ideas please?
Hello Erwin, there are some similar posts on the VMware forums and one suggests a problem
with using a PS2 keyboard and mouse with a DL180. You might want to switch to USB if that's
an option. Also do you see any errors at the console (i.e. using ALT-F1 or ALT-F12)?
[-] Adan 11-24-2008
I try to press ESC after changing the ide parameter to iscsi but nothing happens.. ? :O
vi is my least favorite text editor :). When you press ESC and then type in :wq, do you see the
text appear the in bottom left of the screen? If so just hit enter and it'll save and quit.
[-] Ray Jay 11-27-2008
Loaded ESX3i,3.5.0 on a Dell 4600i containing 13GB(host)& 80GB(data store) IDE drives.
Used the above recommendations for changing IDE to ISCSI. Also needed to grab the BUS and
LSI Logic drivers for WinXP. Thanks for the site and inputs.
[-] Erwin 11-27-2008
Hi Dave
Got it working, it was a faulty ISO download in the end thanks.
Managed to install from CDROM instead of USB, none of them would boot from it despite
setting the bios boot sequence to usb and using flashnul.
Also when I install the full 3.5_u3 it still defaults to ESXi installer, anybody notice that..
Cheers
[-] Erwin 11-27-2008
Adan
You have to type install to get the setup prompt again you should be able to see the disk drive
from there on.
[-] Ahmad 11-30-2008
Hi,
Very useful article indeed. I managed to install it successfully on my old Intel Inspiron 2.4Ghz
PC. However, neither does it
pick up ip address from DHCP nor does it allow me to configure it manually. When i press
ENTER to configure ip address, it asks me
to restore setting to default (press F11) and doesn't allow to enter ip address. I believe this means
my LAN interface is not being recognized.
I also tried to access console again (last step in video) using ALT+F1 but it doesn't return control
back and i cannot execute verification
commands like fdisk / lspci ... Can you help me find out what is problem here ?
Thanks
[-] Ahmad 11-30-2008
Also, Is it possible to install Vmware ESXi hypervisor on only single partition of harddrive while
using other partition for
other operating system (e.g Ubuntu) .I mean can i configure my PC for dual-boot operation.
Thanks
Hello Ahmad, what model of NIC does the PC have and what is the PCI id for the NIC
(http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/find_PCI_ID.php)? There are some Intel NICs that ESXi
can recognize, but don't seem to work properly with the drivers that ESXi comes with.
I recall one VMware forum post about someone getting dual boot to work, but I can't find it now.
ESXi would want to format the entire drive that you install on, so you would want to keep that in
mind.
[-] Ahmad 12-01-2008
Hi Dave again.Seems like ESXi recognizes the Network Controller (though its not listed in
simple.map list.
Here is the Output:
01:05.00 Ethernet controller Network Controller:Realtek Semiconductor Co.,Ltd. RTL-
8139/8139C/8139C+
Class 0200: 10ec:8139
So,
Vendor ID : 10ec
Device ID : 8139
Device is neither listed nor seems similar to other devices in simple.map.I will attempt to edit
oem.tgz if that helps.
Your input will be appreciated.Thanks
[-] Ahmad 12-01-2008
While reading your posts at http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php , i got
answer to my question.
"ESXi does not ship with a Realtek driver so you won't be able to use this NIC with ESXi"
I am going to get an Intel Gig Ethernet card for this to work.Thanks for your time !
[-] smccloud 12-11-2008
Anyone know what to do if the drive is detected on vmhba1 instead of vmhba0?
Do you get an error with the drive connected to vmhba1? Are both vmhba0 and 1 IDE?
[-] Rico 12-18-2008
Nice one man.... I kinda read too quick and had to try again, but those direction were spot on....
Running a ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe (BIOS 1208), AMD 4200+, 2GB RAM, 1 x 120GB IDE
Hitachi Deskstar, 1 x Seagate Barracuda SATAII 320GB.
Both drives became visible and install kicked off... Rebooted and you beauty - VMWare
Hypervisor
[-] Harry 12-23-2008
I have followed the instruction above to modified the TargetFilter.py and it went installed. But
after reboot, there are error message. Looking at the LOG, it said the "Failed to load module
'vmfs3': Invalid argument". Any idea what's wrong? Thanks in advance.
Hello Harry, I haven't seen that type of error below. What sort of controller are you trying to
install with?
[-] Marc 12-28-2008
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your instructions, worked like a charm!
Do you know how I can add a second IDE datastore? I've got two IDE drives on the server, the
first was recognized after the modifications but I can not find the second one.
Hello Marc, if you go to Configuration \ Storage and click Add Storage do you have the option
to add the 2nd drive?
[-] Marc 12-29-2008
No, I can't see the drive there, it's all emtpy.
lspci gives me:
00:31.01 Mass storage controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA Ultra ATA Storage Controller
[vmhba0]
01:02.00 Mass storage controller: Promise Technology, Inc. PDC20277 (SBFastTrak133 Lite)
[vmhba1]
where vmhba1:0:0:3 is my datastore1.
In the add storage wizard I chose Disk/Lun (altough help indicates that this is only for iSCSI,
Fibre Channel or a local SCSI disk, so I guess need to modify somewhere a filter again? ;)
Thanks for your fast response and time for helping me!
[-] Jim 01-01-2009
Hi, I have 3i up3 installed on a thinkpag t60. Cannot configure the NIC, only option is yo reset
the config.
The NIC is an Intel 82573 and the pci id is 8086:109a. It's in the lisy and even says VMIC0 in
the lspci output. what am i doing wrong?
Thanks,
Jim
Hello Jim, it is likely that the driver with ESXi just doesn't work with the NIC. Usually I would
suggest just dropping in something like an Intel Pro 1000 GT, but that obviously won't help you.
Could you try to edit /etc/vmware/esx.conf and set
/adv/Misc/HostIPAddr = "192.168.1.20" -- or what ever IP you want
Then run the command /sbin/backup.sh 0 /bootbank/
Then reboot and see if the IP can be pinged.
[-] Jim 01-02-2009
Dave, Thanks. I found the problem. Apparently the Intel wireless adapter was interfering with it.
I disabled it in the BIOS and it picked up the NIC on a reinstall. Works great.
regards,
Jim
[-] Jesse 01-06-2009
Kudos! Its working.
cheerz
[-] Leandro 01-06-2009
I have a Intel ICH10R Storage controller but the ESX server 3i 3.5.0 don't find my storage. I
already did the procedure above but it don't work.
Anybody has an ideia about?
The error is:
"Unable to find a supported device to write the Vmware ESX Server 3i 3.5.0 image to.
System information
model: P5Q3 DELUXE
BIOS REV: 1609"
Hi Leandro, take a look at these two pages - http://www.vm-
help.com/esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php and http://www.vm-
help.com/esx/esx3i/Hardware_support.php. The ICH10R controller won't be recognized by
default and you won't be able to run it in RAID mode. The ICH10 download on the one page is
for a specific PCI id, so you'll have to figure out which ID the controller in your system uses and
if needed modify oem.tgz to match.
[-] Carlos Oliveira 01-08-2009
It worked as described in this page, thanks for sharing this solution.
Carlos Oliveira
[-] Steve Jeffries 01-10-2009
I carried a download of ESXi 3.5.0 U3 and i was able to install it on a Dell GX620 by carrying
out the fix above. My problem is that i am not able to access the cdrom drive on the host. It
shows up on the VI Client and in the host configuration but when i come to install a guess OS i
am unable to install it via the Host CD Rom drive. I am able to install an OS via the Client CD
Rom. Any ideas would be most helpful.
[-] Steve Jeffries 01-10-2009
I carried a download of ESXi 3.5.0 U3 and i was able to install it on a Dell GX620 by carrying
out the fix above. My problem is that i am not able to access the cdrom drive on the host. It
shows up on the VI Client and in the host configuration but when i come to install a guess OS i
am unable to install it via the Host CD Rom drive. I am able to install an OS via the Client CD
Rom. Any ideas would be most helpful.
[-] Leandro 01-12-2009
Thanks Dave, i rebuild cdrom image and it find my intel storage! Now the problem is the D-link
lan card...
You already install the ESXi on ASUS P5Q3 DELUXE motherboard?
Hello Steve, in some cases ESXi has problems with SATA connected CD-ROM devices. Can
you try changing the mode of the controller to IDE (assuming it won't break any storage you
have on the same controller). You might also want to try the CD-ROM as a generic SCSI device.
My preference though is to copy up an ISO image to the datastore and use the Datastore ISO
option instead of a host CD-ROM (make sure to check the "connect at power on" option.
Hello Leandro, ESXi does not ship with a drive for D-link NICs so you would have to add one. I
would suggest trying an Intel Pro 100 / Pro 1000 or Broadcom 57xx if you have one around. I
use Intel Pro/1000 GT NICs at home.
[-] Ozgur Canibeyaz 01-14-2009
It sounds like a nice solution. I havent tried it yet though. My pc has sata drives on it. Its not
supposed to be IDE right ?
Ozgur, you could use this solution to install to actual IDE drives but in some cases the controller
that your SATA drive is attached to will be recognized as a IDE controller (and ESXi will load
an IDE driver for it) in which case you have to use this method. Generally if you can switch the
controller mode in the BIOS between IDE / Legacy / Native / ACHI / RAID this will change the
PCI ID of the device and thus potentially the driver that ESXi will use.
For example, with an nVidia MCP 55 controller, depending on the BIOS mode the controller
will have a PCI id of either 037e or 037f - http://www.vm-
help.com/esx/esx3i/Hardware_support.php. ESXi will load the driver sata_nv for 037e but the
driver IDE for 037f. If the controller is set to 037f then you would have to use this method. If it
were 037e the ESXi would install Ok with a regular install.
[-] Chris Brashear 01-14-2009
Thanks! This really saved us. Very well documented even for us VI newbies.
[-] ericshih 01-16-2009
It works! thanks!!!
[-] bob vance 01-18-2009
Interesting.
Wanted to play with ESX3i a little, so I tried installing ESX3i 3.5.0_Update_3-123629
on my VMware Workstation 6.5, but it did not work.
It moved VERY slowly. Like 2.5 minutes with "Enabling interrupts ...",
although that may have really been loading Vmkernel.
It then would just hang after "vmkernel loaded successfully" (with ~49% CPU usage shown in
procexp).
I gave it a 4gb full drive and 2GB memory.
I tried both IDE drive and SCSI drive w same result.
Then tried it in a VM on ESX3.5 host.
SAME THING ??????? sucking up all of its one CPU.
Disappointed.
bv
Hello Bob, if you're running an Intel processor you'll want to make sure you have Intel VT
enabled in the BIOS. The slowness you describe is typical of a CPU without VT or the setting
enabled. You'll also have to manually edit the VMX file to add some additional settings. If you
set the VM with an LSILogic adapter and SCSI HD you'll be able to skip the IDE install
instructions.
[-] bob vance 01-19-2009
Well, these were both in VMs. I wouldn't think that VT on the underlying platform would matter
in that case.
Anyway, my desktop running VMware Workstation is an AMD Athlon X2 with VT enabled,
while the ESX host is running on an old HP blade that does NOT support VT.
Interestingly, the ESX3i test VM on my Workstation was not actually hung -- it was just very,
very, very slow. After several hours it finally got to the IDE disk error!!!
The ESX3i running under ESX is, after 18 hours, still configuring the kernel !!!!!
bv
I've tried in on an Intel VT system and the option enabled will make a huge difference in
performance with an ESX(i) VM on VMware Worktation. In your case did you modify the vmx
file for the ESXi VM? There's a good document on that here - http://knowledge.xtravirt.com/.
[-] Depe 01-22-2009
Waw thanks dude! Working nice with Asus P4PE2-X motherboard!
[-] MR_Brutus 01-23-2009
Hi Guys.. I'm having a real hard time installing ESX 3.5 U3 using the above suggestions. Im
have a Dell SC440 with a SAS1068 SATA Card with 2 - 1.5TB drives. But i cant get it to load, i
keep getting the same error. "Unable to find a supported device to write the VMware..."
Please help..
Thanks Guys
[-] MR_Brutus 01-23-2009
I tried editing the vi /usr/lib/vmware/installer/Core/TargetFilter.py did the whole thing but after i
go through the ALT-F2 ALT-f1 type install I get the error and then it force me to reboot.
What's the PCI id for the SAS controller? http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/find_PCI_ID.php
[-] MR_Brutus 01-23-2009
This is what i get. 02:08.00 mass storage controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic LSI1068
[vmhba2]
You shouldn't need the IDE install method for that controller. If you run fdisk -l do you see a
drive attached to the controller?
[-] MR_Brutus 01-23-2009
I had the controller configured for RAID-0, so it wouldn't pick it up. As soon as i changed it to
RAID-1 it found the drive. I was able to install.
Thank you.
[-] Richard 01-24-2009
Work perfect, thank you very much, no i do not have to use Windows 2008! Nice
[-] Ketil 01-27-2009
Thanks, this worked after tinkering with it for a while. The trix was to no choose install when it
first booted, but go directly to Alt+F1 when the install prompt appears. Then I did all the stuff,
typed install, was back where i left, accepted the EULA, got the error, pressed Alt+f1, typed
install again, and wham! there was my disk :)
[-] Gokhan 01-27-2009
Hello,
I am using IBM x346 server. My disks is scsi and mirror on Raid 1 HostBus adaptor. (No raid
card.)
When i install vmware esxi 3.5i, i 2 disk 0 and 1. But i have raid 1 (Mirror) on Adaptec 7902. I
cant see raid 1 on the vmware? and i cant use mirror?
How can i?
Thank you for all.
Hello Gokhan, from my understanding the 7902 uses software drivers to provide RAID
functionality and the drivers that ship with ESX(i) do not support that functionality. Individual
drives is the best you'll get with this controller.
[-] Rutger 01-30-2009
Hello Dave,
I try to install vmware esxi 3.5.0. update 3 on my computer. The sata-disk is supported
(DEV=27c0). I still got the error message "unable to find a supported device to write the vmware
esx server 3 i 3.5.0 image to". So I acces the console as you subscribed above. When I use
command "lspci" I can see the harddisk, so that's all fine. So I want to alter the file
TargetFilter.py, but I can't find it (I used command find -TargetFilter.py and several
combinations, but all in vain). What must I do?
Greets,
Rutger
Hello Rutger, what happens if you run cd /usr/lib/vmware/installer/Core ? If you get to that
folder and run ls do you see the TargetFilter.py file? Keep in mind that filenames and paths are
case sensitive. If you can't get to the Core folder, let me know which version of ESXi you're
using.
[-] Frank 02-03-2009
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I picked up an old machine to throw ESXi onto and I hadn't
even considered hardware compatibility (Doh!). Thanks to your help here, I was not stopped a
mere minute into the process.
[-] Ed Field 02-04-2009
Hello,
Im optimistically trying to install ESXi 3.5 onto my new MSI-7520 Eclipse Motherboard with
Intel I7 processor. I've identified three Mass storage controllers: Two Intel Corporation
8086/3a20 and 8086/3a26, and one unknown 197b/2363. None of these are listed in the HCL.
What chance have I got?
Hello Ed, looks like you have an ICH10 controller. If so you'll need to use this method
http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php to get ESXi installed onto your PC.
You might find it easiest to boot from a USB flash drive and then add a custom oem.tgz to that.
http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Boot%203i%20from%20USB%20flash%20drive.html.
[-] Dunnestein 02-05-2009
Man, you are good! I would have never figured this out myself. Got it running on an old Dell
Optiplx GX270 with a 40GB IDE drive. Thank you very much!
[-] Ed Field 02-05-2009
Thanks Dave, I'm just about getting my head around that, but it looks as though my network
controller is unrecognised as well - Realtek Semi 10ec/8168. Presumably in theory I use the
same technique to add this into the simple.map and pci.ids files, but I'm a bit unsure about the
exact entries in each case, and how do I know which driver to specify? IS this documented
anywhere? Thanks again.
ESXi doesn't ship with a Realtek driver thus it is unrecognized. There is an unsupported Realtek
driver that is close to be released - http://communities.vmware.com/message/1163445#1163445.
[-] mustecep 02-06-2009
I have tried to install ESX 3i 3.5 U3 build 123629 with following set up :
1. HP Proliant DL140 G1 (2x 2.4Ghz Xeons / 2Gb RAM)
2. Dell CERC SATA (II) ch 6 PCI-X RAID Controller
3. 2 x 500Gb Maxtor ST3500320AS SATA II 7200rpm Hard-Drives
4. 2x onboard broadcom nic ,chipset is broadcom 57xx
#
I tried several times with different images, like usb key, cd images , but no joy.
I have a couple questions for you if you can help me.
1) where is boot.cfg file in ESX 3i 3.5 U3 build 23629 ISO image, I opened every file using
IZArc
and also used winrar, I could not find the boot.cfg file to append acpi=off
2)I added acpi=off during the cdrom version of iso image and usb key image, it did not find the
device to install.
I modified the TargetFilter.py file in /usr/vmware/installer/Core/
It fails as no supported device found to install VMware ESX Server 3i 3.5 u3
3) I removed the SATA drives, used an IDE drive maxtor 250gb instead
Installation went fine this time when I edited the TargetFilter.py file,
But I have no magement network connection, as the console appeared to be http://0.0.0.0
STATIC,
configuration of magement network does not give option to edit the IP address.
#
By the way I successfully to install ESX 3.0.2 with 2x sata drives and configured a guest
operating system from VI Client v2.0
However I don't have license to power up guest operating system
Therefore I need to use ESX server 3i 3.5 u3 where I got already free license.
#
I would realy appriciate if you could help me.
#
thanks for your attention
mustecep
[-] Kunal Patel 02-07-2009
Trying to install ESX 3i 3.5 U3 build 23629 ISO onto the following config
Shuttle SX38P2 Pro
8GB Kingston HyperX RAM
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33Ghz
2x 500GB Maxtor SATA disk
The board uses the ICH9R however I have the board set to IDE mode in legacy mode.
Still I get the error that there is no device to write to.
I made the changes in the TargetFilter.py so the IDE was changed to ISCSI
I typed fdisk -l and nothing comes up.
Can anyone provide help?
Hello Kunal, what PCI id comes up for the controller? http://www.vm-
help.com/esx/esx3i/find_PCI_ID.php
Hello mustecep, if you press SHIFT-O during the initial loading screen you can enter the noapic
option. For the controller, what model do you have and what's the PCI id?
[-] ODO 02-11-2009
Hi , Try to install ESX 3i 3.5.0 build-123629 on Compaq Evo D320 , P4 2.66Ghz , 1GB ram ,
40GB IDE HDD. Successful . perfect.
thanks
*i do notice there is "Evaluation (60 day(s) remaining)" , i thought ESXi is free? what happen
after 60 days?
ESXi will by default install in evaluation mode. When you signed up for the download for ESXi
you should have received a serial number. If you have that you can enter that at Configuration \
License Features in the VI client and your host will then be licensed in permanent, free mode.
[-] Mike 02-12-2009
Thanks a bunch for all of your effort in making this document. Without this, I'd still be
scratching my head with no idea what to do. I appreciate this very much.
[-] Ken 02-14-2009
What a nice topic! But after that I tried to install Windows XP Pro as the first guest OS,
Windows installer was unable to detect my IDE drive.
My VMware Infrastructure Client shows the IDE drive. The drive is set as secondary slave drive
on my host PC. My host's BIOS detects this IDE drive but virtual BIOS doesn't show this drive
on IDE device list. What should I do next?
Hello Ken, the VMs you create won't have any understanding of the underlying hardware as
ESXi will present a virtual set of hardware up to the guest OS (the exception to this being the
CPU as the VM can tell the type of CPU although not the core count).
Now for you XP VM, the XP cd doesn't have the SCSI drivers on it to recognize either the
Buslogic or LSI logic SCSC controllers that ESX uses in its VMs. If you created your VM with a
SCSI adapter type of buslogic, you'll need to download a drivers floppy image from the below
link.
http://www.vmware.com/download/server/drivers_tools.html
Then
1) copy the FLP file to your ESX server (you can put it on the VMFS data store).
2) edit your VM and change the floppy to use an image file. Then browse to the FLP file. Make
sure the connected at power option is enabled.
3) power on your VM. During the Windows install at the right time press F6 to add storage
drivers and then load the driver from the floppy drive in the VM.
If you're using the LSI logic controller - see this link -
http://virtrix.blogspot.com/2007/09/vmware-installing-windows-xp-on-esx.html
[-] Ken 02-15-2009
Perfect! With the SCSI driver FLP file you showed me, the Windows XP installation process has
been completed.
Now I can boot ESXi server from USB memory and my first VM for Windows XP from
secondary IDE drive.
I can also boot native Windows XP Pro from primary master IDE drive as I used to do.
This is what I wanted to do first with my old DELL Dimension 3000.
Thanks Dave. Thanks a lot!
[-] ODO 02-16-2009
Changed Processor to P4 2.8GHz and added another 40GB HDD ,
then having problem to running 2 VM at the same time (memory allocation), after some finding ,
i found this
Link "http://communities.vmware.com/thread/140488?tstart=0&start=0" , i think you should add
this solution here as other might face the problem.
now i m able to run 3VM (2 windows & 1 linux)
The only problem now is i can't install the VMtools , error " An error occurred while trying to
access image file "/usr/lib/vmware/isoimages/windows.iso" needed to install VMware Tools: No
such file or directory." any idea?
Thanks
[-] Kunal Patel 02-17-2009
Hey Dave, The PCI ID that I see is 197b:2368 which is a JMicron Controller on the Shuttle
SX38P2 Pro
The System also shows ICH9R 8086: 2926
However the 4 ports on the device all belong to JMicron I believe. I dont know how to edit the
oem.tgz, whenever I do I get a pink screen of death.
Im not even certain if adding the JMicron PCI ID will actually work or not.
[-] Dave Tuggle 02-17-2009
Sweet Article/Post. Worked like a charm on my Dell Dimension 4800.
If the Jmicron controller owns the SATA ports, then you'll be out of luck for ESXi as there is no
jmicron driver. It might be worth putting on another OS to confirm that. I was working with an
ASUS P5E-VM DO this weekend and it has the ICH9/Jmicron combo, but the ICH9 controller
owns the SATA ports and the Jmicron only the IDE port.
ODO, are you able to get to the folder /usr/lib/vmware/isoimages? If not, there might be an
install issue and it may help to update your ESXi to the latest release. The Jan 30th release does
include a VMware Tools update - http://support.vmware.com/selfsupport/download/. You could
also download the patch (http://download3.vmware.com/software/vi/ESXe350-200901401-O-
SG.zip), then extract it, go into ESXe350-200901402-T-BG.zip and extract the ISO from this
path - ESXe350-200901402-T-BG\VMware-tools.tar.gz\VMware-tools.tar\.
[-] Nick 02-20-2009
Great tip! - got ESXi running for me on an old IBM xSeries 335 server.
[-] Ren 02-21-2009
Only one word: THANKS
Great work and nice video!
ESX 3i is now running on my test PC, (P4, 1.8 GHz, 1GB RAM, 120GB IDE HD).
I guess there is no support for my old Adaptec ATA RAID 2400A?
[-] Mark 02-22-2009
Thanks!
This worked for me an in intel D845PEBT2 motherboard.
Hello Ren, if the 2400a is driver compatible with the 2420SA / 2410SA cards, then you could
modify oem.tgz (see the home page) to load the same driver for the 2400a.
[-] Dowps 02-23-2009
Excellent post!
Thank You!!!!!
[-] James 02-24-2009
I am trying to complete the procedure above installing onto a 80GB maxtor IDE harddrive.
I am getting the error as specified so I make the changes to the FilterTarget.py file but I am not
having much success. The issue I am having is it still does not detect the harddrive and forces me
to reboot. Does esxi support VIA chipsets.
When I do the command lspci -v this is returned for the mass storage controller: VIA
Technologies Inc VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT8233/A/CVT8235 PIPC Bus Master IDE.
Class 0101: 1106:0571
Though when I do the fdisk -l command I am getting nothing.
This is fairly old hardware so I was expecting some issues.
Cheers,
James
[-] James 02-24-2009
Sorry in my post above I mean the TargetFilter.py file. To avoid confusion :P
James
Hello James, unfortunately ESXi won't recognize the VIA controller nor does it have a drive for
it - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Hardware_support.php.
[-] Quotaman 02-25-2009
I have followed the instruction above to modified the TargetFilter.py (to enable IDE) and the
installation ends with succesfully installed ESX3i 3.5 and I removed the ESX3i-InstallerCD and
reboot. But after reboot, nothing happens - no CD boot appears, no message from ESX3i
appears, no error message from motherboard(or BIOS). The boot order is selected to boot from
disc and second from the CD-ROM. Now I see the PCI device listing... . Who can help me?
[-] James 02-25-2009
Hi Dave,
As I feared. Oh well, thanks for your quick response.
Cheers,
James
Quotaman, what sort of hardware (and SATA controller) are you using? Do you have multiple
drives in the host? If so try to reduce that just down to one. I have seen other problems for users
when they had 2 disks - ESXi installed to one, but the system would try to boot the other.
[-] Syed Jafri 02-26-2009
I am able to installed ESXi on Fuhitsu Siemens ESPRIMO P. Using above method. It is really
helpfull for me
[-] Graham 02-26-2009
I was very hopeful after seeing several mentions of Optiplexes on this site, but my OptiPlex 960
has a PCI ID - 8086 2E16 is not listed nor will it show up with fdisk -l, so I guess I'm SoL?
[-] Quotaman 02-27-2009
Hi Dave Mishchenko.
I have only one IDE HDD Seagate (primary-master) installed and one CD-ROM Drive
(secondary-master). My motherboard is a ASUS P4B.
I configured to boot from the only one IDE HDD.
Graham, if you access the console during the install (ALT+F1 - login is root / password is blank
and then run lspci -p is a module loaded for the 2e16 device? If not, you might want to try
customizing oem.tgz - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php. You would
need to create the file and then add it to the install CD (or see the install from USB flash drime
method off the home page). You would still need to use the IDE install method, and if you got
the install to work you would then need to boot with a Linux Live CD and add oem.tgz to the
Hypervisor1 partition. It might be easier to look around for a sata controller to add.
Quotaman, looks like your MB has an ICH2 controller which ESXi won't recognize by default.
You could try the same method I just layed out for Graham.
[-] Greg Wilkerson 02-28-2009
Excellent! I got the install to work on an IBM T40 laptop
[-] Quotaman 03-01-2009
Thanks Dave Mishchenko.
I have put the IDE-HDD into a Laptop with ICH5 and it starts into the VMWare ESX3i.
It is strange, why do the installation works with ICH2.
Hello Quotaman, glad to hear you got something working. The main problem is that the files
with ESXi don't contain the necessary data to recognize the ICH2 controller. That you get around
by editing simple.map and pci.ids. However it may be the case that the driver with ESXi
wouldn't even work with the controller and that's why it is not listed.
[-] Graham 03-02-2009
Dave - Thanks very much for your help.
The 8086:2e16 is listed when I do lspci -p, but nothing comes up when I do fdisk -l, and the
process at the top of this page does not allow me to continue the install. It also does not continue
the install with a USB drive inserted.
Unfortunately this is for a lab environment so I am unable to change the hardware. Ah well, if it
doesn't work then it doesn't work.
[-] Mike 03-02-2009
Dave - Firstly thank you for this forum. It is very helpful and offers some hope when my install
failed :].
I am trying to install this on a supermicro 6013A-T 1U server. I'm getting the error shown at the
very top. I went in and made the changes to TargetFilters.py and I did check to see that the
storage device controllers as well as all other controllers are supported and they are (Storage
Device is Intel 82801EB). I run fdisk -l and nothing shows up. lspci -p shows all of the
controllers.
When I modify the TargetFilters.py and follow the steps listed above, I am not shown my storage
device. I just get the error and am forced to reboot.
Is there anything else I am not trying that I should be?
[-] Mike 03-02-2009
Oh, I've got 2 Western Digital 1 TB SATA Drives installed in machine. (WD10EACS) Just in
case it matters.
[-] Mike 03-02-2009
I just realized I put the motherboard model instead of the machine model. It's a Supermicro
X5DPA-TGM+ which has a 6013A-T Motherboard in it.
Sorry for any confusion.
[-] Jpingitore 03-02-2009
Hi All,
I installed the Vmware EXSi using the IDE Controller changing the TargetFilter.py file. But now
I would like to create a VM using a IDE controller.
How can I do this? I only have the SCSI option to my virtual HD.
Thks.
Jorge
[-] danny 03-02-2009
god, i love u
Graham, the 2e16 device won't be recognized by ESXi (see this list - http://www.vm-
help.com/esx/esx3i/Hardware_support.php). If your PC supports it I would try booting from a
USB drive - see the steps here - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Boot%203i%20from
%20USB%20flash%20drive.html. If that works you can modify oem.tgz to see if you can get the
driver to load for the device - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php. If
that works we can then try another few things to try to install onto the IDE drive.
Jpingitore, ESX(i) VMs only support SCSI virtual disk. You can use etheir an LSI Logic
controller in the VM or a Buslogic crotroller. At this time there is not option to create an IDE
drive within a VM.
Mike, I did a quick check and it looks like you have an ICH5R controller. Are you able to put it
in legacy or IDE mode? If you run lspci / lspci -p what PCI id does the controller have? The ICH
driver that ships with ESXi doesn't support RAID so it won't work in that mode.
[-] Are 03-09-2009
Hi.
I have a problem with installing ESX 3i on my system. The system is an Dell PowerEdge 750
and the storage ID is 8086:25a3 and network is 8086:1075.
This should work, but I still can't install after editing the TargetFilter.py file.
I doesn't get anything up in the fdisk -l, but this is also an new disk, so it hasn't had any OS
installed before. Do I have to install linux and format it before the ESX 3i installation? Or is
there another reason for why I can't install ESX 3i on this server?
Thanks
Are
[-] steven 03-10-2009
Thank you very much! :)
I just tried this routine, and it worked as stated.
[-] steven 03-10-2009
I just installed ESXi 3.5 U3 on another Dell OptiPlex GX620 and this one worked just fine with
this process as well.
So, thanks again!! :)
I wonder...is there any chance of editing that file (assuming we have an ISO editor) before
burning the ISO to CD so that it's ready to go with this 'fix' and be able to avoid doing this mid-
stream?
Steven, it's possible to modify on the install CD. See the "Modifying oem.tgz when using an
install CD" section on this page - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php.
But instead of replacing oem.tgz you would update TargetFilter.py in this folder - VMware-
VMvisor-InstallerCD-3.5.0_Update_3-
123629.i386.iso\install.tgz\install.tar\usr\lib\vmware\installer\Core\. If you're dealing with an
ICH7 controller you could just modify oem.tgz to use the ata_piix driver for ICH7 controllers
instead of the ide driver and accomplish the same thing.
[-] steven 03-10-2009
OK, great!
I will definitely look at this closer tomorrow, and probably do one or the other.
Not that I'll really be doing a lot of ESXi installs anyway, but it's always cool to find another way
to tweak something in my favor.
Thanks, Dave.
steven
[-] Vadim 03-11-2009
Dave,
I was able to follow your instructions and successfully installed ESXi on DELL SC440 (1 SATA
drive connected).
After first reboot it boots up fine, but I can not create any VM - storage manager reports "unable
to read partition information".
If I try reboot again (2nd time after installation), it does not boot at all, only cursor is blinking on
the black screen.
Tried to do this few times with the same result.
What can be the problem?
Thank you,
Vadim
Are, for your 25a3 device, could you run lspci -p and make sure a module is listed for the PCI
id? fdisk should show a disk attached even before you change the filter file.
Vadim, something might have gone wrong with the install. Have you tried to re-install?
[-] Nelesh 03-12-2009
Hi, new to vmware and trying to setup a lab with esxi. I get "unable to find a supported device to
write the image to" during the installation.
Hardware: MSI G31M3 V2 M/B, 2.3Ghz Quad Core, 4GB mem, 1Tb SATA - Is this hardware
supported? Can I install Esxi on a machine without a RAID controller?
[-] Trevor 03-12-2009
Hi Dave,
Firstly, great set of instructions and I must commend you for replying to everyone’s
posts...hopefully you have one more in you!
I've managed to get ESXi to work on an HP DL140 with an IDE drive after following the above,
but I can't get the NIC to work.
This is the info I got from lspci:
02:00.00 Ethernet controller Network controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5704
Gigabit Ethernet [vmnic0]
Class 0200: 14e4:1648
Class 0200: 14e4:1648
As far as I can see they are on the HCL. I've even tried to put in a new Intel card, but the
DL140's don't have a way of disabling on the onboard NIC's.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Nelesh, you can install without a RAID controller but ESXi must be able to recognize the storage
controller and have an appropriate driver. What sort of controller do you have and what is the
PCI ID? http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/find_PCI_ID.php
Trevor, thanks for the comments. If you run lspci -p is the tg3 module listed for it? If not, you
can check /var/log/messages for any errors. What sort of Intel NIC did you try and did it come up
as vmnic2?
[-] Trevor 03-16-2009
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your reply. In answer to your question, yes the tg3 module does appear to be listed
for the NIC's. In the messages log there was some references to "Failed trying to get a valid
VMKernel MAC address" and references to the partition table being inconcistent. I did a df -h
and only 1GB in total of the 80GB appears to be listed, is that normal?
I'm starting to think that maybe I just need to put a supported SATA card in it and try again. FYI
the IDE controller is a CSB6 RAID/IDE Controller which appears to be on the compatability list.
[-] Mike Robinson 03-16-2009
I have a Dell 530 Percision Workstation with an IDE controller (Intel 82801BA) it shows in the
lspci-l command and fdisk -l command but I still get the "Fatal Error" and am forced to reboot.
The controller is supported the WD2000 drive is supported so what do you think the hang-up
could be?
Trevor, you might have better luck with a supported card. You might also try recreating the
vmkernel port (see the RCLI guide on the home page - and these commands with have console
equivalents like esxcfg-vmknic).
Mike, does a HD show up in fdisk -l?
[-] Cody 03-19-2009
real nice, worked like a charm on SATA.
Code
http://www.ticket-vault.com
[-] L Kurtz 03-19-2009
Worked perfectly on a CMD PCI0680 Ultra ATA-133 (IBM x305). Thanks!
[-] vucko 03-21-2009
Hi people, I'm new to vmware and trying to install ESX 3.5 on my second desktop. As you
maybe presume I get "Unable to find a supported devices...." message. But in the Manufacturer,
Model and Service Tag field a got only "Aborted". Nothing else. Chipset on the motherboard is
nForce 2. I was abble to see my HDD with command fdisk -l. Have you got any idea?.... Sorry
for my bad English... :)
[-] Ray 03-22-2009
Hi
I would appreciate some help here. Seem to be getting stuck saving the TargetFilter.py file.
I complete the edit to include ISCSI and then ESC key once which flashes the screen.
Cannot seem to type in :wq and enter.
Is the ESC key supposed to take out of the file?
Can you let me know as if I press ESC and then type in :wq it starts to re-edit the file?
Regards.
Raymond
[-] NiTRo 03-22-2009
Works with a DELL SC440 (sata drive) for ESXi 3.5 U3
Thanks a lot !
[-] vucko 03-22-2009
Well, I saw a post from Ketil 01-27-2009 and get it working. Strange. Thanks anyway...
I will close the topic on the forum...
Ray, the ESC key will switch you back to command mode and you should then see :wq at the
bottom of the screen as you type it - http://www.eng.hawaii.edu/Tutor/vi.html#modes.
[-] Don 03-24-2009
Dell Poweredge SC440 - No RAID - Works perfectly and the instructions here are so simple. I
still spent an hour reading and searching and poking, but once I just stepped through these
instructions it was flawless. Many thanks!!
[-] Jim Nuth 04-02-2009
Hi,
I'm having some problems trying to install ESXi onto an ide disk in an IBM HS20 blade.
lspci -v shows
00:15.01 RAID bus controller Mass storage controller: ServerWorks CSB6 RAID/IDE
Class 0104: 1166:0213
fdisk -l shows nothing.
The hardware compatability page has an entry
1166 0213 0000 0000 storage ide CSB6 RAID/IDE Controller
I believe I've folowed the instructions correctly, but I cant see a disk.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
This method won't work if fdisk can't see the drive prior to the change as it implies an issue with
the controller. Do you have an option to use the controller in IDE mode?
[-] Fred 04-14-2009
Hi!
I have the same problem that Trevor have on a HP DL140.
I've managed to get ESXi to work on an HP DL140 with an IDE drive after following the above,
but I can't get the NIC to work.
This is the info I got from lspci:
Class 0200: 14e4:1648
Class 0200: 14e4:1648
What I can see in the documentation the NIC should be supported.
In the messages log there was some references to "Util:874: Failed trying to get a valid
VMKernel MAC address: Failure. Various vmkernel susystems will provide lower quality of
service. please add-configure VMKernel NICs"
Someone find a solution to this problem yet?
Regards
Fred
Fred, I've moved your question here - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=73.
[-] Claudio 04-15-2009
Hi,
I`m trying to install VmWare ESXI Server 3i 3.5.0 on an Intel Server System SR1530SH
Processor Intel Xeon DualCore 1.8 GHz and 2 Hard-Drives 160GB.
When i`m about to install happens an fatal error: unable to find a supported device to write the
vmware ESXI Server 3i 3.5.0. I have already alter the file TargetFilter.py but it appears the same
error. Any idea?
Regards
Claudio
Hello Claudio, could you post a question in the forum with your model of storage controller, it's
PCI id and the output of fdisk -l ?
http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/find_PCI_ID.php
http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Hardware_support.php
[-] Jeremiah French 04-25-2009
Quote: Thank YOU!!! Thank YOU!!! Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank
YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!Thank YOU!!!
You have removed a MAJOR thorn in my side!!
I agree!
[-] Pavel Mlcoch 04-29-2009
Ive Lenovo workstation MT-M 9265
There is 8086:27c0 and 8086:27df devices. When I use this solution, system allways writes
"Unable to find supported device to write the ....."
But ESX 3i U2 can be installed, but second drive isnt accessible for datastorage.
Pavel, I've moved your question here - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?
f=4&t=104&p=499#p499
[-] Claus 05-02-2009
Hi Dave,
Thanks a lot! Awesome description and solution!!!
With the above method I was able to install upd. 4 on a Dell R200, with the build-in SATA
controller.
[-] Tony 05-03-2009
Excellent instructions! Works great on a COTS Dell Poweredge. Many thanks!
[-] blake 05-03-2009
I used the instructions here and got a PE 1600SC running with 1x120gb and 2x320gb IDE
drives. works beautifully.
Thank you for the post
[-] Jerry Beck 05-06-2009
Great instructions Dave. Worked on my Dell PowerEdge T300 with Intel SATA controllers.
[-] Mike 05-07-2009
I have a PC with an Asus P5K-E board. I understand that I cannot install ESXi to a RAID using
the ICH9 controller. However, if I install the server to an IDE drive can I then run my VM's from
a RAID? In other words, will ESXi see the RAID set once it is installed to the IDE drive or will I
never be able to use the RAID setup? I know a hardware controller is the proper solution but this
is jsut a test.
Can you install ESXi to a USB thumb drive?
Thanks.
Hi Mike, the driver for Intel ICH controllers that comes with ESX(i) doesn't support software
RAID so the best you would get is ESXi being able to see the individual drives. You can run
ESXi from a USB flash drive. It should be at least 1 GB in size, and you should set the BIOS to
treat the flash drive as a fixed hard drive - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Boot%203i
%20from%20USB%20flash%20drive.html.
[-] Awadhesh Kumar 05-12-2009
Hi.....Thanks a lot....you are really great. thanks......
Harold, your question has been moved here - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?
f=5&t=147
Madan, your question has been moved here - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?
f=5&t=141
[-] PJ 05-14-2009
Hi All,
Im trying to get a test environment up on a Dell D610 with ide uata drive.
The CD install fails "unable to find a supported device"
The lspci is showing a 82801 2653 (ICH6M) SATA Controller and WinXP shows the same
matching pci ids.
The lspci -p shows the module is not listed for vhmba0 but everything else looks good
USB installs work but still no storage
Anything i can try to get the local storage to work?.
Im not sure i understand why its even selecting an SATA controller if its an UATA drive and
doesnt support SATA.
I thought it would select 82801 266f IDE controller. any help would be great. many thanks
[-] Chris Lukas 05-21-2009
Hey Dave, can;t thank you enough for all your support to the community...
here's one for you:
to install to USB, just change
return interface.GetInterfaceType() == ScsiInterface.SCSI_IFACE_TYPE_USB
to
in TargetFilter.py just the same as the instructions say to do for IDE.
Works great I think, hopefully others will validate.
[-] Chris Lukas 05-22-2009
ESX 4.0 installs directly on USB, ESXi sees it as a
normal drive (lists it as USB) and works perfectly
(USB storage not offered as a VMFS datastore).
Now if I could get UDA working for PXE booting ESXi instead....
[-] Chris Lukas 05-22-2009
ESXi 3.5 update 4 install to USB:
just checked 3.5U4, similar installation to USB, but one change:
In the
def USBFilter(lun):
section of TargetFilter.py change:
return interface.GetDriver() == 'usb-storage' and \
interface.GetInterfaceType() == ScsiInterface.SCSI_IFACE_TYPE_PARALLEL
to:
so remove the first part of the "and" and change PARALLEL to ISCSI
works great, just as ESXi 3.5 Update 3 does on USB.
[-] Edgar Abellana 06-05-2009
Thanks my men,
I got some tips on how to install my Asus RS120- and for the help of the magicians i'm
successfully installed it using vmware esxi 3.5
because of you i'm not here making a comments.
thanks with the help
[-] Antonio Oliveira 06-08-2009
Hi,
I need install "ESRT2_Linux_v.13.07.0318.2009" in esxi4.0, RAID intel s5000PAL
thanks
Hello Antonio, you won't be able to add generic Linux drivers to ESXi. ESXi drivers have to be
specifically compiled for ESX / ESXi and while they do you Linux source for some drivers, they
have to be modified for ESXi.
[-] CrazyJim 06-12-2009
I have gotten this to work before on a Dell GX620, but now switched out machines and am stuck
in the loop with a 745. I made the changes to the TargetFilter.py then hit ESC and type :wq then
type Install, hit Alt-F1, hit Enter at the Esc, R (repair), Enter (Install) screen, then hit F11 on the
next screen and it takes me back to the "Installation Operation Failed!" screen. I have made sure
both of my drives are turned on in the BIOS and I turned on Virtualization in BIOS as well. Both
drives are showing up when I run the lspci command, but nothing happens when I do the "fdisk
-l"...could anyone help please? Very frustrated as again, I got this going before from this article,
but can't now for some reason. I remember having to do something different last time for the
GX620 or I missed a step or something, but I have gone over this article at least 2 dozen times
and went step by step with the video...still nothing. PLEASE!?!?!?!?!?
What sort of controller do you have and what's the PCI id. So for fdisk -l you get no drives
listed? Until that is fixed you won't get any further with the install.
[-] CrazyJim 06-15-2009
When I do the lspci it's showing the drive listed as a "Mass Storage Device". It's an Intel
controller. Also, when I run the fdisk -l nothing is showing up, BUT, when I do fdisk disk it
states "Unable to open disk". Not sure if that matters. I ran an FDISK on this drive as it
previously had a windows installation on it. I had the issue before that it wouldn't recognize the
drive then once I ran the fdisk on it and wiped out the drive it recognized it, but still no dice. Any
ideas on how to get the drive to regonize on the fdisk -l?
[-] CrazyJim 06-15-2009
Just an FYI, I got this machine running with installing ESXi 4.0 No changes required. Thank you
for the help though Dave. Much appreciated.
[-] Skyline 06-22-2009
i have an AMD XP 2500+ CPU with 1.7GB memory, the installation hang (keyboard no
response) on the screen below:
Welcome to the VMware ESX Server 3i 3.5.0 Installation
Please select the operation you wish to perform
(ESC) Cancel (R) Repair (Enter) Install
Skyline, are you able to get to the console using ALT+F12 or vmkernel log with ALT+12? Also
try swapping your keyboard for another type (i.e. if you use a USB keyboard try PS2).
[-] Skyline 06-27-2009
Hi Dave, thank for you response. I was away for a while. For the issue i encounter, it was solve. I
has successfully install it,
now i come to an issue where i have a secondary SATA disk in the system. My system stop
loading once it reach below:
Starting VMWARE ESX server 3i: Loading module sata_sil
Configuring VMKernel ..
In the F12 screen, it display below and stop loading:
driver sata_sil claimed 1 device.
ata1: dev 0 cfg 49:2f00 82:7c6b 83:7f09 84:4673 85:7c69 86:3e21 87:4663 88:207f
ata1: dev 0 ATA-7, max UDMA/133, 32d73056 Sectors:LBA48
[-] Dlf 07-21-2009
Thanks dude it worked for me. (At least it is currently installing) on an HP d530 with a crummy
old maxtor 20GB IDE drive.
[-] chris 07-31-2009
The install ran great with my HP d530 w/ a 80gb IDE drive. Thank you!
[-] Al 08-03-2009
Following these instructions, I have installed ESXi 3.5 on an old Dell PowerEdge 600SC
followed by a CentOS 5 VM guest.
Thank you for the informative article.
>The Skunk Works
[-] Jay Wehner 08-05-2009
This worked great! Thanks for the article!
[-] Jerald Shetty 08-26-2009
Thanks for this workaround. I successfully installed ESXi 3.5 on Inspiron 530s with 300GB IDE
and 4GB RAM. I had to skip step4 and run install right after altering the TagetFilter.py script.
[-] Brett Biggar 08-28-2009
Thanks for this, saved me a lot of hassles.
[-] Simon 08-29-2009
man, i am having a heck of a time trying to get vmware esxi installed and running correctly on an
hp dl140 G1. i can get it to install on the ide drive using your fix but i can't get it to recognize my
broadcom extreme nics. i think they are broadcom 5704's. i tried using the SHIFT-O and setting
acpi=off but that only results in a kernel panic. any suggestions would be great!
thanks,
simon
[-] Tilak 08-31-2009
Thanks a lot, Please let me know how to give static ip to the host, esx 3.5 which is installed now
because i do not have DHCP server.
@Simon - if you can look up the PCI ids for the NICs then post a question in the forum.
@Tilak - see the video here - http://www.vm-
help.com/esx40i/Install_Video/ESXi_40_install.html.
[-] Tilak 09-01-2009
i have found device id as 8186 , and also found that it is not installed , can some one please give
me steps to install network driver step by step.
[-] Tilak 09-01-2009
man, i got to know that i got to edit the oem.tgz to include driver for Realtek 8168 / 8111 NICs
but i am not geting how exactly i should do it.can some one give me some link or steps.
[-] TechFan 09-08-2009
Those of you trying to get this to work with a DL140 G1, see if this link helps - http://www.vm-
help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=779&start=10
[-] IK 09-12-2009
Can someone help.
I can get into the console and trying to install ESXi 4 manually but it says permission denied.
How do I get permission to install...sorry quite new to this type of thing!!
For ESXi 4.0 you have to use chmod on the file first. See the instructions on the home page.
[-] Damin 09-22-2009
He thanks a lot for this...
Unfortunately I cant make sense of step 4 and 5. I edit the TargetFilter.py file via console, then
while still in console i type 'install' which takes me to the install screen, where i press enter, then
F11, but i still get the same message as shown in the first image. am I doing something wrong?
Damin, it would be best to post your question in the forum - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/
[-] hinku 10-15-2009
I follow the sense to install exs to a ide drive:the Fujitsu MHV2040AS, but it was falied so. Then
i reboot the computer, when is already for installing the exs, I press ALT+F1 and execute "fdisk
-l", but it give me nothing. Then I execute "lspci -p|grep vm", it seems that there's no drive for
vmhba0, but drives is loaded for vmhba1, vmhba2 and other. I found that the ide controller is
8086:248b, and lspci -n also recognized the LSI Logic 1000:0030.
I also treid to modify the oem.tgz by using the file downed from http://www.vm-
help.com/esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php, but it still not work and the drive for vmhba0
8086:248b, anyone has any idea? Thanks!
By the way, there are two Fujitsu MHV2040AS ide hd in the pc, in bios, the ide is not detected,
but can create RAID(I has delete the RAID for install esx), is that matter?
hinku - your question has been moved here - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?
f=4&t=1298
[-] Emmanuel Oginni 10-31-2009
Used this to install ESXi on IBM NetVista with 40GB IDE hard disk and it worked perfectly.
Thank you very much for the post.
[-] Yonadav 11-17-2009
Wow! It worked! Thanks for the help!
[-] Typhoon Master 12-01-2009
Very nice and usefully solution. Thanks a lot.
ServerWorks 1166 0212 0000 0000 storage ide CSB5 IDE Controller
Controller went good with this article and IBM HS20 8678
However
IBM HS20 8832 controller
1166 0213 0000 0000 storage ide CSB6 RAID/IDE Controller
doesn't work with this solution even if it listed as supported controller. It doesn't show anything
when type fdisk -l (working one has returned with valid output)
If you have "1166 0213 0000 0000 storage ide CSB6 RAID/IDE Controller" this solution
probably does not work for you.
But give it a shot.
[-] Joe 01-04-2010
I'm strugglin... I'm trying to install ESXi 3.5 on an old Thinkpad R52, but vmware does not
recognize the storage device. I've looked up with lspci an found an 8086:2653 (ICHM6) which is
supported, but vmware does not recognize it. I've tried changing the TargetFilter.py as
mentioned above... doesn't work... Please, does anyone have any additional comment/help?
You can use lspci -p to see if a driver has loaded for the controller (it should list something in the
module colum).
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[-] Marcel G. 01-20-2010
Hi There,
First thanks for the great guide, it was in the first steps very helpfull but now i have some strange
issue, maybe you can help.
1. I installed Vmware 3.5 like you told in the guide
2. After the first obligate restart i configured the vmware as i wan't
3. then i made a second reboot of the hostsystem but it didn't start again,,, it stops right after the
Biosboot
So what can it be? any suggestion?
My Configuration:
HP d530
IDE HD and SATA HD same issue...
[-] Vas 02-03-2010
Hi Dave
We have a HP DC8000, when we do lspci it shows mostly all the devices as Intel Corporation
and when we do fdisk -l it shows nothing? Any ideas on what we can do to show this storage
within the fdisk? Have tried various options in the BIOS from IDE to RAID to AHCI but still the
same result.
[-] Mark 02-05-2010
Perfect! Worked as described on a Compaq (Intel) workstation. Thank you.
@Vas - post the pci id for the controller here - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/ and the output
from lspci -p
[-] Øystein 03-07-2010
Hey guys.. i've seen this issue in this tread allready, however no solution or explanation. So i'll
try asking myself :)
After editing the:
return interface.GetInterfaceType() == ScsiInterface.SCSI_IFACE_TYPE_IDE
to
Now i want to save, i press the ESC key, the screen flashes white. I try to type in the :wq
command.
In the bottom left corner i get the response: 'q' is not implemented.
[-] Øystein 03-07-2010
2 seconds after writing the comment I realized that it is a english keyboard layout and I am using
a Norwegian keyboard :)
[-] verschueren 03-10-2010
Thanks a lot! Now I can do my school work at home
[-] Rapidpedia 03-18-2010
Everything seems to be working! Thanks a lot!
[-] ODO 03-18-2010
I manage to install ESXi 3.5 update 5 to IBM Blade HS20 8832 with CSB6 RAID/IDE
Controller.
Thing you need to do :
1) HDD must be at Secondary(i don't know why)
2) Disable raid in Bios (Boot up to Bios->Devices&I/O port->IDE Config Menu->Disable IDE
Raid & Primary)
3) then follow the instruction as above then you can see the IDE HDD & install ESXi.
hope this help.
[-] garry 03-26-2010
This is great ... I am soooo happy.
[-] gobi 04-19-2010
Thank you thank youThank you thank youThank you thank youThank you thank youThank you
thank you
[-] Jason 05-14-2010
If you don't want to mess with the ALT-F1/F2/edit game, you can just modify the file on the
installer. Just open the ISO and edit the same file:
/usr/lib/vmware/installer/Core/TargetFilter.py - it's located in 'install.tgz' inside the ISO. Burn it
and go build an ESXi server!
Now if I could just get ESXi to recognize my Serverworks CSB6 IDE/RAID disks (it sees the
controller, not the disks when in RAID mode) I'd be all set... looks like I may be out of luck as it
appears the RAID functionality is not recognized by ESXi....
[-] Michael Himmelstein 05-28-2010
my ide controller is not in the supported list it's id is 10de:0265
[-] Jimmie 06-15-2010
I am getting the "Unable to find a supported device to write the VMware ESX Server 3i 3.5.0
image to" error.
I can see my drive when I run fdisk -l. I have tried making the changes to the TargetFilter.py
with no luck.
Any thoughts?
Hi Jimmie, could you post the PCI id for the controller in the install forum - http://www.vm-
help.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=4?
[-] Julian David 06-16-2010
Regards... im trying to instal VMware ESXi 3.5 on a machine with this features: Board: asrock
p4vm800 HD 40 GB IDE RAM 1.4 GB... but i have the same problem "Unable to find a
supported device to write the VMware ESX Server 3i 3.5.0 image to." I have tried making the
changes to the TargetFilter.py.
Manufactur: aborted.
that appears in the error cap and its different from the cap above.
Julian, can you post details about the PCI id in the forum and verify that a driver is loaded for the
controller? (lspci -p)
[-] Ed 07-22-2010
I'm installing on a Dell power edge 650. CMD Tech. 1095:0680.
I followed the video instructions. Thanks!
I got to a successful install, except, when I reboot, now it gives me
SysLinux 3.50 0x4625dbde EBIOS Load error - Boot error.
Any Ideas?
[-] Sam Hussein 07-22-2010
Hi :
I am getting the "Unable to find a supported device to write the VMware ESX Server 3i 3.5.0
image. trying to install it on DELL OPTIPLEX GX620 machine. so my understanding the
requirmenets are at least 2G of RAM and SATA Drive. dont know what else to do. I tried the
steps above but it says Core directory does not exist? can you give me some guidance please
Thank you
Sam, I would suggest changing to the folder manually just to verify the path. The path name is
case sensitive.
Ed, you may have to update the syslinux files that are used to boot ESXi.
[-] Sam Hussein 08-01-2010
Thanks Dave, However I am installing on SATA drive not IDE. the steps above are for IDE
installation?
Sam, could you post the PCI id for the controller in the forum - http://www.vm-
help.com/forum/? In some cases ESXi will treat a SATA controller as an IDE device.
[-] Suresh 08-10-2010
Hi Dave,
It's a great job man and I am much appreciated you. I followed the instruction but still I am
landing in the same error like fatal error. I changed to ISCSI in the TargetFilter.py however it
does not install it. Even when I tried fdisk -l nothing is coming up and when I used lspci it shows
Mass Storage controller:nvidia corporation. Please guide me... My Motherboard is ASUS
M2N68 PLUS and itz supported by VMware, processor is AMD Phenom X2 545. I am using
SATA driver it is controller by IDE.
Hello Suresh, if fdisk -l doesn't show anything then likely the driver for the controller has not
loaded and the fix on this page will not help. Can you post the PCI id for the controller in the
forums?
[-] RobM 09-10-2010
I am trying to install VMWare on a Intel D865Perl Mobo.
Socket 478 Pentium 4 3GHZ Prescott Hyperthreading
2Gig DDR Ram
Maxtor 60gig HD
I get the fatal error similar to the above but system info says the following:
no disk drive listed.
Manufacture: Aborted
Model: Aborted
Service Tag: Aborted
Bios Rev: RL86510A.86A.0005.P19.0406281350
fdisk -l gives me the following:
/dev/disks/vmhba0:0:0:1(device boot) 1(start) 7476(end) 60049408(blocks) 7(ID)
hpfs/ntfs(system)
I ran lspci and get a long list of stuff but I think this is what we are looking for:
Mass storage controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICHR5) IDE Controller
[vmhba0]
So is this system not compatible or is there something I am missing that I still need to do?
Thanks so much if you can help.
[-] RobM 09-10-2010
I was able to get it to work. Just bummed now I have to put in my old 10baseT 3 com Card. Darn
netgear ethernet card using realtek.
[-] vmwareguy 09-11-2010
Gak! don't auto play videos, especially huge unneccisary ones.
Other than that, nice tip.
[-] Chris 09-15-2010
Hi Dave,
Thanks very much for this useful resource. I've followed the above to get ESX3i semi-working
on my HP Compaq DC5000. Initially all appears fine, the install works, I can see the IDE drive
and controller using fdisk, lspci etc. When it comes up with 'reboot to complete installation' and i
reboot it all continues to work fine - I can view/change ESX settings, configure networking and
so on. However once I shut down completely and then try to start ESX back up again I just get a
blank screen with a flashing cursor immediately after bios. There's no way to view any logs, type
any input etc. Any ideas as to what's going wrong?
Thanks.
What sort of storage controller are you using? If it is an ICH*R controller make sure you don't
have RAID mode enabled. Also check that the HD is set as the first boot device.
[-] Chris 09-16-2010
Hi Dave,
Thanks for getting back to me. The controller is an "Intel Corporation 82801ER/ER
(ICH5/ICH5R) IDE Controller". The drive in the first boot device. I'm fairly sure it's not in any
raid mode as as far as i can tell it doesn't even support raid. I can access the drive through the
maintenance console from the install CD if that's any help - are there any specific logs that might
throw up useful errors? I think I might try another HD to see if that makes any difference.
Thanks again
[-] Chris 09-17-2010
No luck unfortunatly. I'm also getting the same flashing screen when I try to run from a usb
device (by following your instructions here: http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Boot%203i
%20from%20USB%20flash%20drive.html).
If you install ESXi, boot it up and then reboot - do you have any problems (i.e. does the boot
problem occur after you've make configuration changes)?
[-] Chris 09-18-2010
No it still has the same problem even if I make no configuration changes. After installation to
disk and initial prompt to reboot to complete installation - all is fine, it's after powering off the
machine and then starting it back up that the problem occurs. Oh well, think I'll have to give up
trying to get it to work on this machine.
[-] Dean 09-23-2010
This worked great for me even installing over a PXE boot. Installed in a few minutes after
making changes listed here.
ESXi 3.5u5 ISO is in an NFS share on my FreeNAS box
UDA2 running in VMware Player on my Vista laptop to provide tftp/PXE services
IPCOP box w/ DHCP set to forward PXE requests to UDA2
Installed on:
Intel SE7320VP2 server motherboard (Intel ICH5 southbridge)
Dual 2.8GHz Xeon LV
8GB PC2700 RAM
40GB Seagate 7200.7 hard drive (Master on ICH5 IDE channel 0)
[-] Todd 10-25-2010
Hi Dave,
Firstly thanks so much for providing your assistance to so many of us clueless people.
I am attemptiong the install and have followed your instructions to the letter, but still having the
problem.
The controller we are using is Intel 8086:db24, which I have confirmed is on the list of approved
hardware.
The server we have is a Dell Poweredge 1850.
When I run fdisk -l, I get nothing. However the other commands list the controller no problem at
all.
I saw from a previous post that this method will not work if fdisk cannot detect the drive.
Is there anything you can suggest for me to try? Thanks again.
[-] Todd 10-25-2010
It may be worth noting that I performed a clearing of the hard drives on this machine prior to
attempting your steps. Could this have some bearing on the install?
Todd, does lspci -p show a module for the controller? I would think it may not since you don't
see the drive. Could you get that output and post that in the forum?
[-] Todd 10-25-2010
Sure. I'll post the details tomorrow for you. Thanks again.
[-] Chris 10-25-2010
Just a very belated follow-up to my original posts. It WAS the hard drive that was knackered -
replaced it and all's fine.
Thanks for all your help.
[-] Todd 10-25-2010
Dave,
lspci -p, brings up a number of things. Which one am I looking for?
If it is vmhba0, then here are the details of what it lists:
00:31.01 8086:db24 1028:016C 0/ / A V IDE
Can you post a copy of /var/log/messages in the forum?
[-] Todd 10-31-2010
John, it's all good now. We hadn't configured RAID correctly in the machine.
Thanks for your assistance.
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