How to add a NIC driver to VMware ESXi 5.1 ISO

vmware-esxivmware-vsphere

I found information about install problems with the release of the NIC drivers of VMware ESXi 5.1 on Power Edge Dell Servers, the install stop with this error message "No network adapters were detected"

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/b/techcenter/archive/2012/05/08/no-network-adapters-were-detected-error-message-while-installing-esxi-on-dell-poweredge-12th-generation-servers.aspx#Downloading

HP servers have similar issues and they have their own version of EXSi 5.x

How I can add specific drivers to the ESXi ISO?

I found a way to add drivers to non supported NIC cards but this goes into the Hypervisor partition "ESXi install" no into the ESXi ISO

http://ajmatson.net/wordpress/2011/05/vmware-esxi-installation-success-and-addition-of-realtek-8111-onboard-nic-support/

Best Answer

If you're having a problem with a Dell server, use the Dell ESXi image, as it had the agents and monitoring hooks built-in.

It seems like you're trying to ask how to add drivers to ESXi on non-Dell/non-HP hardware. If that's the case...

Use supported hardware.

ESXi is bootstrapped by a small Busybox installation. There are only so many device drivers that can be shipped and supported effectively. Many systems that don't seem ESXi-compatible can be made to be compatible by just adding supported storage and network controllers. It's difficult to find server-class hardware that isn't supported by ESXi. If you're in a bind, just buy an Intel E1000 network card to complete your installation.

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