Installing ESXi 5.0 on a supported USB flash drive or SD flash card

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Purpose This article provides instructions for installing ESXi on a USB drive or SD flash card. However, certain considerations must be made before proceeding with an installation. Ensure that the USB flash drive or SD flash card you are using is supported for installation of ESXi 5.0. For more information, consult the vSphere Compatibility Matrix and the ESXi 5.0 and vCenter Server 5.0 Installation guide.


Note: In the event that your original SD flash card or USB drive fails, these steps can be used in a disaster recovery capacity to get a fully functional ESXi host running as quickly as possible on a replacement USB drive or SD flash card.
  
Resolution Installing ESXi 5.0 on to a USB flash drive or SD flash cardNote: Installing ESXi 5.0 on a USB flash drive or SD flash card has the same minimum requirements as installing to typical SCSI or SATA hard disk. For more information, see the minimum requirements in our http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=/com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc_50/GUID-7C9A1E23-7FCD-4295-9CB1-C932F2423C63.html.

• Acquire and create an installation CD/DVD by downloading ESXi 5.0 from the VMware Download Center and burn the ISO file onto CD/DVD media.
• Insert the ESXi 5.0 Installable CD into the CD/DVD-ROM drive.
• Press the key required to activate your machine's BIOS setup. This key is often a function key or the Delete key. For more information, consult your hardware vendor documentation.
• Ensure that you have set the BIOS to boot from a CD/DVD-ROM device. This varies based on manufacturer.
• Boot off the ESXi 5.0 Installation CD/DVD media.
• Let the Automatic boot countdown and boot as normal. The ESXi 5.0 installation process begins and you see that the kernel modules and drivers are loaded. The installation continues to load at a yellow screen.
• Wait for the installation to load completely.
• After you see the Welcome screen, press Enter to continue with the installation.
• Read the End-User License Agreement (EULA) and press F11 if you accept.
  
  The installer detects the disks available for installation. If it sees the flash drive, it is be presented as USB under type, and the model as flash reader.
  
  
• Select this device to install ESXi 5.x and press Enter. If the device is not listed, ensure that your machine sees the device and that the device is compatible. For more information, see the vSphere Compatibility Matrix.
• Select the keyboard layout. This is usually Default.
• Enter the root password you want. VMware recommends that you do not leave this blank.
  
  The installation begins and may take up to 15 minutes.
• When the installation completes, remove the installation CD/DVD-ROM.
• Press Enter to reboot the host.
• Set the first boot device to be the drive on which you installed ESXi on to the USB flash drive or SD flash card.
  

  
Impact/Risks Disaster Recovery ScenarioIf you have a local datastore containing production information and have completed the installation on a replacement USB flash drive or SD flash card in a disaster recovery scenario, you may be required perform these additional steps:

• Connect to the ESXi host using the vSphere Client or add the ESXi host to an existing vCenter Server implementation.
• Click the host.
• Click the Configuration tab.
• Click Storage.
• Click Rescan to ensure you can see all datastores.
• Browse the datastore and register any virtual machines that are located on the datastores. For more information, see Registering or adding a virtual machine to the inventory (1006160).
  

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