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Troubleshooting an ESX/ESXi host installation failure

Symptoms

  • ESX/ESXi Server host installation stops with an error before completion.
  • ESX/ESXi Server host installation fails to complete.
  • Unable to complete ESX/ESXi Server installation.
  • You may receive one or more of these errors during an installation or upgrade:
    • Your hardware is not compatible with ESX
    • Failed to load vmkernel: 0xbad0013
    • Failed to import upgrade. Error was: failed upload
    • Unable to connect to the remote server
    • Encountered error FileIOError: The error data is: Filename - None Message - I/O Error (28) on file : [Errno 28] No space left on device Errno - 10 Description - Unable to create, write or read a file as expected.

Purpose

This article guides you through the process of troubleshooting the installation of an ESX/ESXi Server host. The article aims to help you eliminate the common causes of these issues.

Resolution

Validate that each troubleshooting step below is true for your environment. Each step provides instructions or a link to a document, in order to eliminate possible causes and take corrective action as necessary. The steps are ordered in the most appropriate sequence to isolate the issue and identify the proper resolution. Please do not skip a step. 
  1. Verify that the minimum system requirements for installing an ESX/ESXi Server host have been met. For more information, see Minimum System Requirements for Installing ESX (1003661).

  2. Verify that the hardware being installed on is certified. For more information, see Verifying that ESX/ESXi host hardware (System, Storage, and I/O) devices are supported (1003916).

  3. Verify that your hardware is working as expected. For more information, see Ensuring your hardware is functioning correctly (1003690).

  4. Verify the problem is not being caused by the installation media. For more information, see Checking media integrity for ESX/ESXi host installations or upgrades (1003674).

  5. Verify that your firmware and BIOS are at the latest revision. For more information, see Checking your firmware and BIOS levels to ensure compatibility with ESX/ESXi (1037257).

  6. Verify a problem with your mouse and/or keyboard is not preventing you from completing the installation. For more information, see Troubleshooting issues when a mouse or keyboard stop functioning during installation or upgrade of an ESX/ESXi host system (1003868).

  7. Complete a fresh install using the ISO image if your installation continually fails. For more information, see Completing a clean installation using the ISO image if your installation or upgrade fails of ESX/ESXi (1004038).

  8. Installations can also fail if your ESX/ESXi host is full on disk space. For more information, see Investigating disk space on an ESX/ESXi host (1003564).

  9. If you are experiencing these issues when using Update Manager to upgrade your ESX/ESXi, see Troubleshooting issues when Update Manager cannot upgrade an ESX/ESXi host (1032626).  
Note: If your problem persists after performing the steps in this article:

Additional Information

For more information on installing or upgrading ESX/ESXi for your version, see the Installation Guides from the  VMware Product Documentation.

Tags

install-esx install-esx-fails

Update History

04/12/2011 - Updated for vSphere 4.1.

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