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ESXi 4 - Booting from USB

L

laserbeam

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 9, 2005
Messages
168
Hi,
I've installed ESXi 4 to USB but have hit issues that I need to understand. That is, the bios isn't detecting the usb stick as a bootable device and is passing straight through to HDD boot.

Relevent info:

Mobo: ASUS Z8PE-D18 flashed to latest bios release
Bios Config: USB detecting is first in boot order.
USB Device type: USB-FDD
USB Stick integrity: Fine, checked under Linux
ESXi boot mechanism: Syslinux - I suspect this may be causing the issue.

If anyone can cast any light on this I'd appreciate it.


Regards,
Dave
 
is there an option for a USB-HDD in BIOS? that would be preferred to USB-Floppy
 
It can be either. Also, USB-Stick. It simply specifies how the device will be "seen" by the OS.

But because floppy booting is different to HD booting a USB-FDD bios setting will prevent usb hd type images booting.

That's what I've determined from looking into this some more.


Regards,
Dave
 
On some bios, if you enable legacy usb support or something like that, the USB stick is enumerated like a HD on the boot device list.
 
Boot off your ESXi CD and install onto the USB drive. If your whitebox is supported it will show up to the ESXi installer as a normal hard drive with the label being the make/model of the USB stick.

That's how I installed ESXi to a SuperMicro box at work and it runs very well.
 
That's not quite the problem he's facing - he's installed it there already, but it's not managing to boot to it - syslinux is skipping the USB boot and going past.
 
lopoetve said:
That's not quite the problem he's facing - he's installed it there already, but it's not managing to boot to it - syslinux is skipping the USB boot and going past.
Click to expand...

By the sounds of it, syslinux never touches it, the system doesn't boot at al from the USB thumb drive.

If hitting the boot screen menu at the bios screen, can you then boot from the USB drive? if not, I would say the hope of being able to boot from the drive is nil...If yes, I would review the bios settings, is there a boot from usb option? Meaning, does it need to be enabled prior to choosing what usb device to boot from? The lack of USB-HDD option makes me think that asus never meant to support it?
 
Probably not - not on the HCL. That's kinda sad, since it is a server board.

And you're right - I wasn't thinking when I said syslinux skipped it - it just never even gets there.
 
Yeah, I've pointedthis out to ASUS and suggested they push for better USB support in their next bios release. I've now installed from CD.


Regards,
Dave
 
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