USB 3.0 Ethernet Adapter (NIC) driver for ESXi 6.5 by William Lam 159 Comments I had several folks ask me about an updated USB 3.0 Ethernet Driver for ESXi 6.5, similiar to what I had created for ESXi 5.5 and 6.0. PowerCLI Script to get ESXi Network/Storage Firmware and Driver Version Posted by fgrehl on March 11, 2017 Leave a comment (14) Go to comments For a healthy vSphere virtualization infrastructure and to receive support from VMware it is important to verify that IO devices are listed in VMwares Compatibility Guide/Hardware Compatibility List (HCL. Download VMware ESXi 6.0 ixgbe 4.5.3 NIC Driver for Intel Ethernet Controllers 82599,x520,x540,x550,and x552 family ##This version is compatible with ESXi 6.5 as per the documentation and our test result. Determining Network/Storage firmware and driver version in ESXi/ESX 4.x and 5.x VMwareKB. And physical network interface cards on VMware vSphere ESXi/ESX 4.x and 5.x.
I have a small MiniPC with a Realtek 8168 I'm trying to load ESXi 6.5 on to (need something very low power for travel). I also have a second MiniITX PC with a Realtek 8168 I've been using to test/verify along the way.
I have an ISO with the 8168 driver loaded (latest version 8.045). On the MiniPC the installer doesn't detect the NIC. On the MiniITX board it detects just fine. So I used the MiniITX system to install to USB, just to move forward.
- With vSphere Client 5.5.0 Build 1993072 (available with ESXi 5.5 Update 2) it is possible to edit hardware version 10 VMs settings. When editing a hardware version 10 VM it is only possible to edit hardware version 8 features.
- A while back I posted about the Realtek 8168/9 and Marvell NIC drivers being removed in ESXi 5.5. They are still available in ESXi 5.0/5.1 and thus in the VMware Online depot. So it is quite easy to create a customized ESXi 5.5 installation ISO that includes these ESXi 5.1 drivers (they still work with ESXi 5.5).
When I try and boot ESXi from the installed USB stick on the MiniPC, it still won't detect the NIC. It all works just fine on the MiniITX system.
returns
I've tried searching for an answer and have come up empty. There was one post here in /r/vmware (by /u/Alias401) but there was never a resolution other than buy different hardware.
Has anyone ever run in to a similar problem or found a solution to this?
EDIT: For anyone who finds this later, the device is a Beelink M1. The issue is that while booting ESXi disables the NIC due to some slight PCI issue. It does this before the driver can enumerate the device, thus causing the NIC to not show up.