Help: ESXi 5.1 on XPS 8700

try everything. no luck.

Step 7. Dell BIOS, by default it would have UEFI Secure Boot enabled and VMware ESXi 5.1 will not boot with it. So disable Secure boot, and keep it to UEFI. 

// yes.

Step 8. Ensure virtualization is turned on in the processor settings

// how?

Step 9. Save the settings and exit BIOS and insert VMware ESXi 5.1 CD in the DVD drive.

Step 10. Follow all the prompts and they are quite easy to follow and intuitive.

In few minutes, VMware ESxi install will complete and ready. It does not complain of anything. VMWare ESXi 5.1 intaller is so much better and it automatically detected the on-bard NIC and was ready. Otherwise I was ready to add another NIC card if this fails. Earlier versions used to fail it finds hardware that it does not recognize. This was easy.

Your malware with realtek security certificate is not welcome here.

Realtek RTL8111B / RTL8168B / RTL8111/RTL8168 / RTL8111C / RTL8111CP / RTL8111D(L) / RTL8168C / RTL8111DP / RTL8111E / RTL8168E / RTL8111F / RTL8411 / RTL8111G / RTL8111GUS / RTL8411B(N) / RTL8118AS / D-Link DGE-528T Drivers should be from Dell or Realtek.

I have managed to get the lastest version of ESXI (5.5 update 2) working with the onboard NIC (Realtek 8168 on the Dell XPS 8700). The trick is to add the correct driver with ESXI-Customizer. The correct driver is not the one from ESXI 5.1 but can be found here (found this one trough the vmware communities):

https://vibsdepot.v-front.de/wiki/index.php/Net55-r8168

Then you have to disable secure boot in the bios and change UEFI -> Legacy.

Async drivers are subjected to the VMware certification process. They are released in a ESXi software package called a vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB). You should only download async drivers signed by VMware. SubVirt which relys on commercial virtualization technology like VMware or Virtual PC,  Blue Pill also creates undetectable malware on X64  .SubVirt is a permanent (i.e. restart surviving) rootkit. And it has to be, because the SubVirt's installation process requires that it takes control before the original operating system boots which is where malware infected driver packages is involved.