Install ESXi 5 from a USB Flash Drive.

by John C. Wray III Friday, September 19, 2014 11:52 AM

Install ESXi 5.x from a USB Flash Drive.

1. Download an older version of SYSLINUX because the newer version won’t work in this case. (http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/3.xx/syslinux-3.75.zip)

2. Extract the zip somewhere on your computer.

4. Extract the ESXi 5 installable ISO to a folder.

5. Format your flash drive with FAT32.

6. Open a command prompt (Open as admin if you are a ‘tard and haven’t shut off UAC)

7. Navigate to where you extracted the SYSLINUX zip file from step one.

8. Navigate to the win32 subfolder (Syslinux\syslinux-3.75\win32)

9. Execute this command syslinux –mfa F: (F: is the drive letter assigned to your flash drive, could be anything.)

10. Copy the contents of the folder for the ESXi 5 install you expanded from the iso.

11. Rename two files:

a. ISOLINUX.CFG gets renamed to SYSLINUX.CFG

b. ISOLINUX.BIN gets renamed to SYSLINUX.BIN

12. Boot from USB and install ESXi 5 much quicker. J

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