• Setup the ESXi installer ISO in one of the following three locations:
• On CD or DVD
• On a USB flash drive
• PXE boot the ESXi installer to launch an interactive (or a scripted) installation

• Verify that the server hardware clock is set to UTC. This setting is in the system BIOS.

• Verify that a keyboard and monitor are attached to the machine on which the ESXi software will be installed. Alternatively, use a remote management application.

• Consider disconnecting from your SAN (unless doing a SAN install/boot). This action decreases the time it takes the installer to search for available disk drives.

• Gather the information required by the ESXi installation wizard.

• Insert the ESXi installer CD/DVD into the CD/DVD-ROM drive, or attach the Installer USB flash drive and restart the machine.(If needed, set the BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM device or the USB flash drive.)

• On the ESXi Boot Menu, select ESXi-5.0.0-xxxxxx-standard Installer

• On the Select a Disk page, select the drive on which to install ESXi and press Enter.

• Select the keyboard type for the host.

• Enter the root password for the host.

• Press F11 to start the installation.

• When the installation is complete, remove the installation CD, DVD, or USB flash drive.

• Press Enter to reboot the host.

• Set the first boot device to be the drive on which you installed ESXi in Step 3.

Required or Optional

Default

Comments

Keyboard layout

Required

U.S. English

VLAN ID

Optional

None

Range: 0 through 4094

IP address

Optional

DHCP

You can allow DHCP to configure the network during installation. After installation, you can change the network settings.

Subnet mask

Optional

Calculated based on the IP address

Gateway

Optional

Based on the configured IP address and subnet mask

Primary DNS

Optional

Based on the configured IP address and subnet mask

Secondary DNS

Optional

None

Host name

Required for static IP settings

None

vSphere Clients can use either the host name or the IP address to access the ESXi host.

Install location

Required

None

Must be at least 5GB if you install the components on a single disk

Migrate existing ESX or ESXi settings. Preserve existing VMFS datastore.

Required if you are installing ESXi on a drive with an existing ESXi or ESX installation.

None

See Installing ESXi on a Drive with an Existing ESX or ESXi Installation or VMFS Datastore.

Root password

Optional

None

Root password must be between 6 and 64 characters.