Customized Image of VMware ESXi Availability and Download Instructions

Certain Dell PowerEdge servers require the use of Dell Customized Image of VMware ESXi for the easiest and most reliable deployment of a fully managed server. To determine if your server requires the Dell Customized Image of VMware ESXi, see Important Information for the Dell Customized ESXi Image.

Table of Contents

1. What drivers and files are modified or included on the Dell Customized Image of VMware ESXi?
2. Download the Dell Customized Image of ESXi from VMware
3. Download the Dell Customized Image of ESXi from Dell Support
4. Installation

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What drivers and files are modified or included on the Dell Customized Image of VMware ESXi?

Each image is a customization of the base VMware image of a particular version. Dell customization of the image includes:

• Modifying files to identify Dell and Dell support.
• Updating the ESXi image with the latest validated asynchronous drivers.
• Updating patches if it addresses a common issue for Dell systems.

We recommended using the latest version of the image available for your Dell system.

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Download the Dell Customized Image of VMware ESXi from VMware Support

To find out how to download the customized image from the VMware Website, watch this video or follow the step-by-step instructions below.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Go to https://support.broadcom.com/ and login with your account credentials.
2. Select View and Download Products > All Products and then click the View Download Components link of VMware vSphere. The below image is a screenshot of the vSphere download location.  
   
   Figure 1: Downloads page at VMware website
3. From the drop-down menu, select the wanted ESXi version. The Dell Customized Image of VMware ESXi is available for 7.0, 6.7 and 6.5 branches of ESXi. Hence if you select any other versions of ESXi, the Custom ISOs tab does not have the Dell Customized Image of VMware ESXi.
   
   Figure 2: Version selection at VMware website
4. Click Custom ISOs
   
   Figure 3: Custom ISO selection screen
5. Expand the OEM Customized Installer CD option and then click Go to Downloads for the image that you want to download. Both Dell Customized Images of VMware ESXi ISO and the offline bundle (.zip format) are available in the download page.
   
   Figure 4: Custom ISO download screen

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Download the Dell Customized Image of VMware ESXi from Dell Support

 

To download the Dell Customized Image of VMware ESXi, perform the following steps:

1. Go to Dell Support, and select your product from the Product Support section or enter service tag.
2. Click the Drivers & Downloads tab.
3. Filter the request Enterprise Solutions in the Category field. 
4. Expand the VMware ESXi link, and click Download on the required version for your server.

For example: Here is the download link of Dell Customized Image of VMware ESXi 6.7 U3 in our website for your reference.

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Installation

To install ESXi, boot on the ISO file and follow the instructions. Alternative methods can be used to boot on the ISO file:

• How to Create a Bootable USB Device with Rufus to Update Dell Servers
• Using the Virtual Media Function on iDRAC6, iDRAC7, iDRAC8 and iDRAC9 

Find the VMware compatibility information in the VMware compatibility Guide .

Not required

See above.