Boot ESXi 5.1.0 without powering up VMs

N

nry

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 10, 2008
Messages
409
Currently having an issue where my ESXi box powers up VMs on start up, the first VM that is powered up has a NIC passed through to it causing a PSOD (which I have found a patch for on the Vmware site http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/mi...nguage=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2039030). Anyway to install this I obviously need to power up the ESXi box with no VMs on.

Connecting through vSphere isn't an option, I have around 1 second once boot up is completed before it goes to PSOD!

Is there a way I can enter a boot command on start up to disable automatic vm start up?
 
Not that I know of. You could try doing a quick install to a USB stick (leaving datastore untouched). Then import the problematic VM, remove the PCI device, save the settings, and remove from inventory. Now you should be able to boot ESXi?
 
Never thought of that, cheers! Might just stick to booting from the USB stick as this is what I have done before
 
You could always remove the NIC associated with the PSOD before you boot. If its an add in card then pull it out. If its a MB nic then disable it in the bios. Should be able to boot without the PSOD and apply the patch. If the patch requires the NIC installed in order to complete the just reconfigure that one VM to manual start, shutdown, replace the NIC, reboot. Done.
 
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