This document demonstrates the installation of VMWare’s ESXi 4 operating system.

Installation Time: Approx 10 minutes

Click here to watch video

Note: Must have minimum 2 GB Ram

Installation

To begin download the free iso file from VMWare’s website and burn it to a CD. Enter the CD into your server and power on / reboot.

You will see a bunch of dots as the installer is getting unpacked. This may take a minute or two.

You’ll see the yellow screen and the progress bar as the installer is preparing

When you see the welcome screen press Enter to begin install

Press F11 to accept agreement

Select the disk where you want to install the ESXi operating system

Press F11 (again) to proceed installing ESXi on this disk

ESXi will be installed. May take one or two minutes

When finished, press Enter to reboot, and be sure to remove CD

Configuration

After reboot there are a few things to configure. Begin configuration by pressing F2

The first thing to do is set the root password. Select Configure Password and press Enter

Enter your password andtype it again to confirm

Next, configure the networking. Select Configure Management Network

If you have multiple network adapter, make sure you select the correct adapter for the management network. Select Network Adapters

Verify which nic you want to use for management

Finally, if you will be using a static IP address select IP Configuration

Enter IP information

At this point, the ESXi host is ready to start hosting virtual machines. This can be done using the VI client or VCenter (formerly Virtual Center).

If you have questions or problems with this build document please leave a comment below.