Note: this is the old home page for ESXi 3.5. For ESXi 4.0 content go to this page.

Welcome to vm-help.com - home of the Unofficial VMware ESX Server 3.5 Whitebox HCL. If you have any questions or comments, you can contact me on the VMware Technology Network community: VMTN Profile or post a comment in the forum.

Dave Mishchenko
VMware vExpert 2009

General

The Whitebox HCL is a list of servers, PCs, motherboards and storage controllers that are not officially supported for use with VMware ESX and ESXi, but have been found to function properly. If you have a system that you'd like to try that isn't on VMware HCL or the Whitebox HCL, you can check here to see if ESXi 3.5 will recognize your storage and network controller.

ESXi 3.5

Getting started with ESXi 3.5 Installable

How do I know if ESXi will run on my hardware?
Install ESX on your host - watch an install Video

Other topics
Change your host's network name and SSL certificate   
Manage your ESXi host with RCLI commands   
Create roles and assign permissions with a standalone host

ESXi Install Options

Install ESXi 3.5 to an IDE drive
Extract and run the ESXi 3.5 install image to a USB flash drive
Install ESXi 3.5 from a PXE server
Install ESXi 3.5 from a USB flash drive  
Watch an install video for ESXi

ESXi Tips and Tricks

Add a boot delay to ESXi
Modify oem.tgz to add custom install files and hardware support
Reset the root password
Enable SSH Access to ESXi
Install ESXi 3.5 patches without VirtualCenter
Import the RCLI virtual appliance and then give the RCLI appliance a static IP address
Enable SSH access for the root login to the RCLI

ESXi Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting common issues
Run a file system check on the ESXi system partitions.
Disable CIM and / or OEM CIM providers right after an ESXi install and prior to the initial boot
Restart the ESXi management agents from the console or SSH
Fix the error 'The VMware ESX Server does not have persistent storage' after an upgrade

ESXi Performance

Extend performance data to 36 hours with a stand alone host
Transfer files to and from ESXi with FTP (and enable enhanced wget and use rsync)
Increasing datastore file transfer speeds with http transfers

ESX 3.5
Fixing the error "mounting root failed" when installing ESX 3.5 on a system with an unsupported SATA controller

VirtualCenter
Adding sysprep files to VirtualCenter