I have tried several times running ESXi 4.1 inside vmware server 2.0 installed on Win7-64 bit.
The problem is that the installation is stuck on welcome screen asking to press enter to continue (or Esc or R to repair). Nothing seems to let it proceed. I have followed all the suggestion illustrated.
Any other idea? Thanks a lot.
Installing ESXi 4.1 inside vmware server 2.0.2
vmware-esxivmware-server
Best Answer
I know it's a long time since you posted this issue, but I had the same issue myself.
It seems that a lot of people are having keyboard problems with ESXi 4.1, but the main resolution has been to plug in a different kind of keyboard - not very useful if you're trying to install ESXi on top of VMWare Server.
Anyway, taking a slightly different approach, I experimented with the kernel boot parameters and I found that adding
acpi=off
to the command line allowed the installation to continue.So to do this, at the VMVisor (ESXi) boot menu, press
Tab
. Change the command line to read:mboot.c32 vmkboot.gz acpi=off --- vmkernel.gz --- sys.vgz --- cim.vgz --- ienviron.vgz --- install.vgz
You should now be able to press
Enter
at the appropriate point and continue your installation.After installation, you'll find the keyboard doesn't work again. This is okay as you can do everything from the VSphere Client anyway. But if you want the keyboard to work at the console, then first install the VSphere client.
Then connect to your ESXi machine and click the
Configuration
tab. UnderSoftware
you should find anAdvanced Settings
option (scroll down if you can't see it). Select this option then clickVMkernel
. Now uncheck the box that saysVMkernel.Boot.ACPI
. And clickOK
.When you Reboot your ESXi machine (you can do this from the VSphere Client), you should now be able to use the keyboard at the console.