Boot from ISO on Datastore?

W

wildbill001

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
85
I'm sure I'm forgetting something just can't figure out what.:confused:

  • Newly upgraded ESXi 5.1 server (from 5.0-u1)
  • NO virtual machines created yet
  • Create a VM to load RH 5.4
  • Set CDROM to connect at power-on
  • Mount the ISO from a datastore (this is a known working ISO)
  • Boot VM and immediately attempts a network boot

I then went into the setup for this VM and set the boot to be CDROM--seems to ignore it.
Reset VM, go into boot menu and set CDROM first--seems to ignore it.

Looks like no matter what I do, it seems to be ignoring the CDROM and attempts a network boot. The VM settings show the CDROM as IDE 1 and there is no SCSI choice or anything else.

What's the trick? What am I missing?

TIA
Bill W
 
It should work without issue.

The only "trick" that might help is after you've mounted the ISO, press esc at the network boot attempt and it should re-attempt boot off the virtual CD\DVD drive.
 
That's what I thought. Didn't know about the ESC after network boot attempt. So, tried that and it goes immediately into another network boot attempt.

sigh......

I vaguely remember having this same issue with ESXi 5.0 but cannot for the life of me remember what I did to get around it.

Maybe someone else will have the key.

Bill W
 
Here is a shot of the VM settings. Notice the RED circled sections.
VM-CDsetup.jpg


Here is the setup in BIOS:
BiosBoot.jpg


Here is the boot Menu:
BootMenu.jpg


And as soon as I hit "enter" from this screen, I see this:
EndBoot.jpg


The VM does boot fine from the Host Device. I also verified that the ISO is good, i.e., I built a disk from that ISO and booted from the Host Device.

But I DON'T want to boot from the host device, I'd LIKE to be able to boot from the Datastore. As I said earlier, I can't help but feel that I'm missing something obvious (the old forest for the trees thing).

Any thoughts, ideas, comments?
 
Does it work if you connect the .iso to the datastore using the console GUI rather than the VM properties?

Does it work with other .isos on the same datastore?

This is unlikely, but when I'm grasping at straws I try more unlikely things - perhaps there's a bug where it's getting hung up on something in the .iso's filename (such as the extra dot or underscore). Rename it rhel.iso or something like that and try?
 
Not sure what is meant by UEFI vs Normal.

I've tried connecting both ways, console GUI and VM properties--no luck

Renamed the RHEL 5.4 iso to just 5.iso and moved it to / on the datastore -- no luck

Tried other ISOs (win 7 and Win 2008). THOSE BOTH WORKED ! (DOH! why didn't I think of that before?) SO it must be something about that iso?!

Well, at least I can boot from the host CDROM and load up RH. I'll make a new iso in a day or two and see if that will work.

Thanks for the help and ideas. I really appreciate it.

Bill W
 
once booted, open settings - did it actually connect the ISO? might be a locking problem :)
 
I don't know. I gave up and just booted from the host CD. If I have time this weekend, I will build another VM, try again. If it doesn't work, I'll rebuild/replace the iso and try. If that doesn't work, well, as long as I can boot RH from the host, that's fine by me for what I need to do.

Just bugs me. At least it looks like I'm doing the right steps.
 
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