Many people are using the USB NIC Fling by William Lam and Songtao Zheng in homelabs. To make a fresh installation or upgrade as simple as possible, I've created a new Image Profile that contains the USB NIC driver.
This article explains how to create a custom ESXi 7.0 Image including the NIC driver to either upgrade previous versions of ESXi or make a fresh ESXi installation with USB NIC support.
Create a custom ESXi 7.0 Images including the USB NIC Driver
- Download USB NIC Fling (ESXi700-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-34491022-component-15873236.zip)
- Copy the USB NIC Driver to your build directory (eg. c:\esx\
- Open PowerShell
- (optional) Install VMware PowerCLI from the PowerShell Gallery
Install-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI -Scope CurrentUser
- Change to your build directory
cd c:\esx\
- Clone the original Image Profile, add the driver and export to ISO and Zip Bundle.
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml Export-ESXImageProfile -ImageProfile "ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-standard" -ExportToBundle -filepath ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-standard.zip Remove-EsxSoftwareDepot https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml Add-EsxSoftwareDepot .\ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-standard.zip Add-EsxSoftwareDepot .\ESXi700-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-34491022-component-15873236.zip New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile "ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-standard" -name "ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-USBNIC" -Vendor "virten.net" Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile "ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-USBNIC" -SoftwarePackage "vmkusb-nic-fling" Export-ESXImageProfile -ImageProfile "ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-USBNIC" -ExportToIso -filepath ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-USBNIC.iso Export-ESXImageProfile -ImageProfile "ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-USBNIC" -ExportToBundle -filepath ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-USBNIC.zip
- You should now have two files in your build directory:
ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-USBNIC.iso
ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-USBNIC.zip
With the two files, you can either make a fresh ESXi 7.0 install or upgrade from previous versions.
Create a Bootable ESXi 7.0 Installer USB Flash Drive
- Download Rufus
- Connect the USB flash drive to your computer
- Open Rufus
- Select your Device
- Select your custom ISO file as Boot selection
- Do not change anything else
- Press START
- Use the Flash Drive to install ESXi 7.0.
In some cases, ESXi Installation might fail at 81%. See here for a solution.
Upgrade to ESXi 7.0 with USB NIC Driver
Updating previous versions is very simple. Copy the zip bundle to a datastore and run the following command and reboot the host:
# esxcli software profile install -p ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-USBNIC -d /vmfs/volumes/[datastore]/ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-USBNIC.zip
Are there some additional steps? I mean, it definitely works in that it gets me past the initial error where it says no compatible NIC is detected.
But then about 81% into the install, there's an error that about "Exception: No vmknic tagged for management was found"
I have the same problem at 81%
I figured it out. When the install completes, push Alt+F1 to get to a shell.
Use root for username, just press enter for password (blank password).
Then you want to follow the instructions available at https://flings.vmware.com/usb-network-native-driver-for-esxi#instructions
Run the command: vi /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh
Essentially you're going to manually type in the code for Standard Virtual Switch.
This must be done at the end of the install (prior to re-booting) otherwise you will have to re-do the install, since Alt+F1 won't give you an option to login.
Hope this helps!
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There's probably a way to modify local.sh in the image rather than typing it manually, but I don't know how to do that.
See here: https://www.virten.net/2020/07/solution-esxi-installation-with-usb-nic-only-fails-at-81/