How to install ESXi 6 Server on VMware Workstation

This blog will provide you with a detailed explanation on how to install VMware ESXi 6 Server on VMware Workstation Pro application installed on Windows 7 or later operating systems

ESXi 6 System Requirement

According to VMware the following are the minimum hardware requirement to install ESXi 6

1. Minimum Single Socket with two CPU requirement (Dual Socket with 4 or more — Recommended)
2. Minimum 4 GB Physical Memory (8 GB or more — Recommended)
3. Minimum Single 1 GB Network Adaptor — Recommended
4. Minimum Single 4 GB Drive (Redundant Drives — Recommended)
5. Shared Storage (NFS, iSCSI or Fibre Channel for Virtual Machine Storage)

Note: Minimum 4 GB physical memory is recommended. However, if you have low physical resources than allocate 4 GB RAM for installation process and then reduce the RAM to 2 GB after installation.

Downloads

Visit the VMware official site login using your VMware customer account and download the following ISOs or executable

1. Download the VMware workstation 12 Pro executable
2. Download the Free ISO of VMware vSphere Hypervisor

Procedure to Create VM for ESXi Host

1. Install VMware workstation 12 Pro on your Microsoft Windows workstation
2. Go to Start -> All Programs -> VMware -> Launch VMware Workstation Pro

3. Now VMware Workstation Pro is on your screen

4. Click on File –> New Virtual Machine

5. The new Virtual Machine wizard will launch, select Custom (Advanced) and Click Next

6. From Hardware Compatibility drop-down menu select Workstation 10.x then click Next

7. Select Installer disc image file (iso) option, browse to load ESXi 6 ISO. Then Click Next

8. Name the virtual machine ESXi-6-Host01, provide a path to save the VM files and Click Next

9. Keep the Processors setting default (Please assign more resources if you have), click Next

10. Leave the RAM configured as 4 GB (Minimum RAM Requirement), Click Next

Note: you can provide more RAM to this host if you have enough resources

11. For Network Type choose Bridged Networking, it will allow the ESXi hosts to get DHCP address as well as can be accessible from your local Windows workstation. Then Click Next

12. Keep the default option selected for I/O Controller types, Click Next

13. Select SCSI, then Click Next

14. Select “Create a new virtual disk”, then click Next

15. Keep the Maximum Disk Size 40 GB as it is recommended to install ESXi 6, Select “Storage virtual Disk as a single file” and Click Next

16. **Split virtual disk into multiple files would be the best option if you have low disk space.
***Only choose To allocate all disk space now when you have sufficient space on the disk

17. Browse and select the location where you would like to save Virtual Machine Disk.
In this scenario we will leave the default settings as shown below, then click Next

18. Unchecked “Power on this virtual machine after creation” and Click Finish

Procedure to Install ESXi 6

1. From the Management Console, Select the VM (ESXi-6-Host01). Click Power on this virtual Machine

2. VM will boot using ESXi IOS

3. Loading the VMware ESXi

4. Press Enter to Continue

5. Press F11 to Accept and Continue

6. Press Enter to Continue

7. Press enter to Continue

8. Type Password and Press Enter to Continue

9. System will scan for information

10. Press F11 to Install

11. Installing ESXi

12. After installation will complete VM will reboot. This time VM will boot from local VMDK attached to it and load the ESXi Hypervisor

13. Finally, we have our ESXi Hypervisor installed on VMware Workstation Pro