running multiple mac os virtual servers on esxi mac pro

Step 3 - Download my custom.tgz which will automatically handle the SMC issue for Apple Mac Mini 6,2 Step 2 - You will need access to a Linux system (recommend CentOS) that has mkisofs utlity, which is used to author an ISO Step 1 - Download the ESXi ISO you wish to work with Here is the process for building your own custom ESXi ISO for your Mac Mini: I have been able to successfully install the default out of the box ESXi 5.5 Update 2 ISO from VMware on my Apple Mac Mini 5,3 without any additional changes.

Note: Earlier versions of Mac Mini should work fine for the most part without additional modifications.īefore I get started, I would also like to mention that several of the 'challenges' such as having an updated Broadcom tg3 drivers have been fixed in the latest ESXi 5.5 Update 2 release, so out of the box you will be able to see the on-board network device working as expected and Ethernet Thunderbolt will also be functional if you are using that device with no additional drivers being required.

With the recent release of vSphere 5.5 Update 2, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to show how you can build your own custom ESXi ISO to run on the Apple Mac Mini 6,2. This has been on my to-do list for awhile but it was finding the time to document the process but also I normally like to take it a step further and see how I can make it even more simple 🙂ĭisclaimer: Running ESXi on an Apple Mac Mini is not officially supported by VMware, please use at your own risk The other reason is that some folks would like to build their own custom ISO and include other drivers/packages and others are just interested in the process. This has worked for the majority of folks but I have received several requests for those that may not be comfortable with just downloading a random ISO on the internet, which I can fully understand. I took it upon myself to help simplify it by building custom ESXi ISO's for most of the major ESXi releases so that users could simply install ESXi as they normally would and by-pass all the complexity. Though there workarounds for these issue, the process was quite complex. These challenges range from known SMC issues from Apple to missing or updated Broadcom tg3 network drivers. For those of you who own an Apple Mac Mini 6,2 may recall some of the, lets call them 'challenges' on getting ESXi to run on the Mini.

Running multiple mac os virtual servers on esxi mac pro