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ESXi 7.0 dropped support for many older CPU generations (e.g., Intel Xeon E5 v1/v2). If your portable media throws a CPU incompatibility error, you can append the boot option allowLegacyCPU=true by pressing Shift+O at the initial purple boot screen.
The direct download link for ESXi 7.0 ISO is:
This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about finding the legitimate ESXi 7.0 ISO, creating a portable bootable installer, and running a live, stateless, or persistent portable environment. 1. Finding the Legitimate ESXi 7.0 ISO Download esxi 70 download iso portable
Use a tool like Rufus or Ventoy to flash the downloaded ESXi 7.0 ISO onto USB Disk A .
This comprehensive guide covers how to legitimately download the official ESXi 7.0 ISO, create a portable bootable installer, and configure a fully persistent live USB ESXi environment. 1. Understanding ESXi 7.0 "Portable" Architecture ESXi 7
Disclaimer: This article is for educational and lab use only. Ensure compliance with Broadcom/VMware licensing terms. USB booting is deprecated in ESXi 7.0 and should not be used for production workloads.
Since Broadcom acquired VMware, all official downloads are now hosted on the Broadcom Support Portal Broadcom support portal Official Source : Log in to the Broadcom Support Portal create a portable bootable installer
Boot the server and select the USB drive in the BIOS/UEFI boot menu. Choose . Follow the wizard: Select the destination hard drive. Set the root password. Remove the USB drive and reboot when prompted. Key Considerations for ESXi 7.0
Before we dive into the download and installation process, it is helpful to understand why you might want to run ESXi from a USB flash drive instead of from an internal hard disk or SSD:
Keep in mind that running ESXi 7.0 from a USB drive might have performance implications compared to running it from a local disk.