Hello, all.

I plan to install an evaluation copy of ESXi 4.1 on a homebuilt whitebox machine. The onboard Ethernet controller is a Realtek 8111E. I tried the mkesxiaio_3.9.9.sh script but it didn't work and, to be blunt, I'm too rusty on shell scripting to debug it. After reading the first 200 lines, I gave up. So I am hoping to hack the files in the ISO image so I can burn a CD-R and install for the first time.

I found a few web pages here and there which almost describe how to manually hack the ISO to add the Realtek driver, but the files and directory structures described don't seem to be in the ISO file I downloaded from VMware. Here is what's in VMware-VMvisor-Installer-4.1.0-260247.x86_64.iso;

[root@localhost isofile]# ll
total 306768
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 13320 Sep 23 10:17 a.z
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 2048 Sep 23 10:17 boot.cat
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 1164618 Sep 23 10:17 cimstg.tgz
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 16101197 Sep 23 10:18 cim.vgz
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 7364186 Sep 23 10:18 ienviron.vgz
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 212380054 Sep 23 10:18 imagedd.bz2
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 74 Sep 23 10:18 imagedd.md5
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 22887 Sep 23 10:18 install.vgz
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 12241 Sep 23 10:18 isolinux.bin
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 298 Sep 23 10:18 isolinux.cfg
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 47404 Sep 23 10:18 mboot.c32
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 51020 Sep 23 10:18 menu.c32
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 1831459 Sep 23 10:18 open_source_licenses.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 2889 Sep 23 10:18 README.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 72206398 Sep 23 10:18 sys.vgz
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 40876 Sep 23 10:18 tboot.gz
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 48285 Sep 23 10:18 vmkboot.gz
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 2469813 Sep 23 10:18 vmkernel.gz

No boot.cfg, no /bootbank directory, no /altbootbank directory. Hell, no oem.tgz file. Has the installable ISO image structure changed? Or have I downloaded the wrong ISO file?

thanx

What errors do you get ?
What OS are you running ?
Do you have internet connection ?
Do you run it as root ?

It may be easier to get the script working then to mess around with the ISO .

If you just want to edit the ISO
1) Add the oem.tgz file to the root folder
2) edit isolinux.cfg and add --- oem.tgz
3) Do either A or B
A (extract the image file until you get a dd image file. Add your oem.tgz file to partition1. Then run the install and reboot into ESXi (the script takes care of this for you)
b) install ESXi, then boot with a linux live CD and add oem.tgz to partition1 - reboot into ESXi

No ISO file.. Exiting

CentOS 5.5 VM under VMware Workstation, on a Win7Pro x64 host
2.6.18-194.11.1.el5 kernel

Yes, I am viewing the forum and posting from Firefox on the CentOS VM.

Yes, running as root.

Can't do B until I get an Intel NIC. So, questions...

On step 1, you mean the root folder of the ISO?

On step 2, you mean add "--- oem.tgz" to the append directive?

On step 3a, how to mount the dd image? I've tried "mount -t ext2 -o loop" as well as ext3, ntfs, and vfat, to no avail.

thanx for the assistance...

I can't understand why it happens.
It's on line 382 to 438 it checks the iso file


You have the iso and the script in the same folder and you haven't renamed it ?

1. yes root of the CD
2. in the isolinux.cfg after install.vgz
3. You need to mount the right partition. number 5
I'm using: mount -o loop,offset=


I'm downloading a live iso with centos to check how it runs

[root@localhost ESXi server configuration]# ll
total 614632
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13090 Sep 22 23:59 Customizing your ESXi install with oem_tgz.htm
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 23 00:12 esx-5
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 23 00:12 esx-build
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 23 00:12 esx-cd
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 23 00:12 esx-ftp
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 23 00:12 esx-ienv
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 23 00:12 esx-oem
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 23 00:12 esx-temp
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 23 00:12 esx-usb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1569 Sep 22 23:59 inetd.conf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 42788 Sep 22 23:59 mkesxiaio_3.9.1.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 45412 Sep 23 00:41 mkesxiaio_3.9.9.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 191626 Sep 22 23:59 RTL8111_8168_P55_integr_SATA_Ctrl.(AHCI).oem.tgz
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 45412 Sep 23 00:43 test.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 314150912 Sep 23 00:00 VMware-VMvisor-Installer-4.1.0-260247.x86_64.iso
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 314150912 Sep 23 00:03 VMware-VMvisor-Installer-4.1.0-260247.x86_64-new.iso

The mkesxiaio_3.9.1.sh script sort of went through the motions but did not produce a modified ISO file, I would guess because the ISO I have is 4.1. Both ISO files I have are identical, I simply created a "new" file to feed to the shell script in case the script overwrote it. After the 3.9.1 script gave up, I md5summed the "new" ISO against the original to check for changes; no change.

was there a typo or did you use 3.9.1 ?

I suggest using heavily reduced versions of your script. Cut the shell script down to 50 working lines, put in some diagnostic writes/echos, delete all of the screen clearing, etc.

Keep in mind that CentOS does not have apt-get, it uses rpm, yum, or pup.

I've tried both.