Installing ESXi is a simple and straight forward process, but there are a few things you need to keep in mind.  The hardware compatibility list is very important.  You should always make sure your hardware is on it if you are using it in an production environment. In a test environment the setup will probably work, but there could always be some issues you may encounter.

We will cover the following items.

• Check hardware compatibility
• Download the ESXi image
• Create bootable image
• Install
• Configure

Hardware Compatibility

1. Check for hardware compatibility here.  If your system is not listed and your using this for test  then have no fear.  You will probably be able to install and run everything without and issues.

2. Go into the BIOS and make sure the CPU virtualization support is turned on.

Download ESXi

1. Download ESXi from the VMware website.

Once you have the ISO you can burn it to a CD or create a bootable USB drive.  If you want to create a bootable USB drive Rufus works really well for that.

Installing ESXi

1. Choose the ESXi installer or wait for it to default to that.

2.  You will see two different progress screens.

3. Press enter then F11.

4. Choose location to install it.

5. Choose language

6. Choose password

7. It will not scan your system for its hardware.

8. Press F11 to insall.

9. Wait for the progress bar.

10. Press enter to reboot.

Now ESXi is installed.  In my next post I will show how to setup the configuration on a ESXi host.