Working instructions for vSphere Hypervisor ESXi 6.5.0 installation on APU2c4 Prerequisite: Update BIOS to version 4.8.0.6, see https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-16 and https://pcengines.ch/howto.htm#bios Links vSphere Hypervisor 6.5 https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi6 PowerCli 6.5.1 https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/VMware.PowerCLI/6.5.1.5377412 ESXi-Customiser-PS 2.5 https://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer-ps.html#download Pre-made custom ESXi installation ISO https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByM7O1EHqpU9NDdHU3REbnd2aFE Step 1 - Preparation of installation media A custom ESXi installation ISO is required to successfully install 6.5.0 on APU2c4 Method 1 - Preparation of ESXi ISO - Requires a Windows 7/8/10 desktop machine Download ESXi-Customiser-PS 2.5 (https://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer-ps.html#download) Open an admin PowerShell and install PowerCli as per the instructions in the download link (https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/VMware.PowerCLI/6.5.1.5377412) After successful installation close the admin PowerShell instance and open a standard PowerShell instance Navigate to the location where you saved ESXi-Customiser 2.5 Run the following command in the PowerShell window .\ESXi-Customizer-PS-v2.5.ps1 -v65 -vft -load net-igb -remove vmkusb After some minutes the process will finish, leaving you with the required custom installation ISO Make a bootable USB drive from the newly created ISO using your preferred method e.g. OS X - unetbootin e.g. Windows - Rufus (if requested allow Rufus to update menu.c32) Method 2 - Download a pre-made custom ESXi installation ISO (this was made using the instructions as described in Method 1) https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByM7O1EHqpU9NDdHU3REbnd2aFE Make a bootable USB drive from the downloaded ISO using your preferred method e.g. OS X - unetbootin e.g. Windows - Rufus (if requested allow Rufus to update menu.c32) Step 2 - Installation of ESXi (assumes your APU2c4 is configured to boot from USB before other devices) With the APU2c4 powered off insert ESXi installation USB made in Step 1 Power on the device SeaBIOS (version rel-1.10.0.1) Press F10 key now for boot menu Select boot device: 1. USB MSC Drive SanDisk Cruzer Fit 1.27 2. ata0-0: SATA SSD ATA-11 Hard-Disk (15272 MiBytes) 3. Payload [memtest] 4. Payload [setup] Booting from Hard Disk... SYSLINUX 4.07 EDD 2013-07-25 Copyright (C) 1994-2013 H. Peter Anvin et al +----------------------------------------------------------+ | ESXi-6.5.0-20170702001-standard-customized Boot Menu | |----------------------------------------------------------| | ESXi-6.5.0-20170702001-standard-customized Installer | | Boot from local disk | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +----------------------------------------------------------+ Press [Tab] to edit optionsAutomatic boot in 8 seconds... | ESXi-6.5.0-20170702001-standard-customized Installer | | Boot from local disk | When you see above screen, press tab and you will line such as below. > mboot.c32 -c boot.cfg mboot.c32 -c boot.cfg Type following line at the end. kernelopt=text nofb com1_baud=115200 com1_Port=0x3f8 tty2Port=com1 gdbPort=none logPort=none r So, after above typing boot prompt should look like following. If yes, hit enter. mboot.c32 -c boot.cfgmboot.c32 -c boot.cfg kernelopt=text nofb com1_baud=115200 com1_Port=0x3f8 tty2Port=com1 gdbPort=none logPort=none Now, installation process will begin (it will take some minutes until the installation menu appears during this time you will see a list of the various modules loading) Follow prompts and answer accordingly Accept the compatibility warning Accept the EULA Select the installation HD Set keyboard layout Set admin password (do NOT forget this) Confirm installation Installation to your chosen HD will begin (it will take some time and appear to hang e.g. at 27% but will finish after some minutes) Once complete confirm shutdown/reboot of the device Your installation is now complete; there is one task left to restore ESXi management console access Step 3 - Restoring serial access Method 1 - Boot APU2c4 from a TinyCore USB and modify the ESXi boot.cfg file directly Prepare a TinyCore USB (http://pcengines.ch/howto.htm#TinyCoreLinux) Boot the APU2c4 from the prepared TinyCore USB device Once booted, at the command prompt type the following cd / find . -type f -iname "boot.cfg" There will be 2 locations returned where boot.cfg exists The correct boot.cfg to edit exists in the parent directory with a large number of files (cd to those returned locations and perform a simple 'ls -al' at the command prompt to see which directory holds the boot.cfg file to edit) Edit boot.cfg and ADD the following to the start of the line kernelopt= text nofb com1_baud=115200 com1_Port=0x3f8 tty2Port=com1 gdbPort=none logPort=none The final line should looking something similar to the following kernelopt=text nofb com1_baud=115200 com1_Port=0x3f8 tty2Port=com1 gdbPort=none logPort=none installerDiskDumpSlotSize=2560 no-auto-partition ignoreHeadless=TRUE Save the boot.cfg file Power off the APU2c4 and remove the TinyCore USB Power on the APU2c4, console access should now be restored Method 2 - Edit the relevant settings via the ESXi web management console (requires the IP address of the ESXi host) Determine the IP address of the ESXi host e.g. Check your DHCP server logs/lease file or scan your IP subnet range Log into the web management console https://IPADDRESS/ui In the left-hand navigator windows select the "Manage" option under "Host" Under the "System" tab select "Advanced Settings" Find or search for the following settings Key "VMkernel.Boot.tty2Port" Select the "VMkernel.Boot.tty2Port" key, right click and select "Edit option" Enter com1 as the new value Click the "Save" button On the next reboot of your ESXi host console access will be restored Method 3 - Plugin USB stick to Windows. There will be several drive that will be non-accessible and windows may prompt you to format it. Please do not format it. There would be one drive will be mounted. In that on root you will find boot.cfg. Open it text editor and search for "kernelopt". Add following line after "kernalopt=". Do not remove value it had before. We just need to add following line after "kernalopt="" text nofb com1_baud=115200 com1_Port=0x3f8 tty2Port=com1 gdbPort=none logPort=none installerDiskDumpSlotSize=2560 no-auto-partition ignoreHeadless=TRUE Save boot.cfg file and plug in usb stick to APU2c4 and power on. Everything else from here on is self explanatory.