HP ENVY 750-425qe
i7-6700 4.0GHz
12GB DDR4 RAM
2TB SATA HDD
RealTek RT-8168 On-board NIC
UEFI Boot/Bios
Dear Fellow VM'ers:
Given all the non-HCL hardware that I see on YouTube, where people have been highly successful installing many different versions of ESXi over the years, I find it rather strange that ESXi 6.5 won't install on a brand new HP ENVY 750-425qe. The HP 750 series as been around for quite some time now. I know it is not classified as a "Server" but it also has more computing power than many machines that are classified as "Servers." My next step is the Proliant Microserver Gen9, which is on the vMWare HCL. But, I'd like to at least try everything possible to get this ENVY 750-425qe up and running, if at all possible. Any help here is greatly appreciated.
Getting to the Problem
- Registered with vMWare
- Downloaded ESXi (with tools) as ISO
- Rufus'd ISO to bootable USB
- Wiped the HDD using Clean All from an X: prompt using Diskpart to get rid of Windows 10
- Shut down machine
- Inserted USB with ESXi 6.5 and started machine
- Files began loading into memory
- Everything looks good with smile on face
Interrupt #1
- Message on screen: "No Network Adapter Discovered" (or language to that same effect)
- Began research and found that vMWare removed all RealTek NIC drivers in Version 5.5
- Further research concludes that Driver Injection into ESXi Image Profile was necessary
- Downloaded tools for Driver Injection (PowerCLI, Offline Bundle for NIC Driver, Offline Bundle for ESXi)
- Step through PowerCLI commands crossing every "t" and dotting ever "i" along the way
- Inject NIC Driver into ESXi 6.5 Image successfully
- Export to ISO
- Rufus to USB
- Begin ESXi 6.5 with RealTek Driver Injected
- Files began loading into memory
- No more "No Network Adapter Discovered" problem (solved)
- Files continue to load with bigger smile on face
Interrupt #2
- Pink Screen of Death with message: "Failed to Validate Acceptance Level. Failed to Check Acceptance Level: None"
- Began research and found that VIB with Acceptance Level below Image Acceptance Level is not acceptable (no pun intended)
- Found documentation on how to change Image Profile Acceptance Level
- Set Image Profile Acceptance Level to: CommunitySupported (now matches VIB Acceptance Level)
- Export to ISO
- Rufus
- Install
- Files load into memory with huge smile on face now cause I've finally "fixed everything" right? Wrong.
Interrupt #3
- Pink Screen of Death with message: "Failed to Validate Acceptance Level. Failed to Check Acceptance Level: None"
This screen will not go away no matter what I try. The driver has been injected correctly. The Acceptance Level of the ESXi 6.5 now matches that of the VIB containing the RealTek RT8168 NIC Driver. I've verified the package contents of the ESXi 6.5 Image, so I know the VIB has been injected. There is no way to screw-up Rufus. Creating a bootable USB is extremely easy using Rufus. What the heck am I doing wrong?
I do understand - it is not HCL approved. However, neither are all 'Acer Notebooks' and many other non-HCL machines out there running 1.5GHz processors with less than the vMWare documented "requirement" for RAM that I've seen people using with absolutely no problems at all dating back to ESXi 5.x all the way up to the current ESXi 6.5.
There has to be something I'm missing. Does anyone here know what that might be and would you mind sharing the solution?
Thanks,
Frustrated