Downloading Free vSphere Hypervisor ESXi 8.x

VMware allows installing the full version of ESXi for Free all you need is a Customer Connect profile. The only limitation I have found is you are only allowed maximum of 8 vCPU’s per Virtual Mechine.

ESXi Server Software

Click on this link for instuction on know to set up a customer connect account and download ESXi for free.
VMware knowelge base that provides steps for downloading and licensing vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 7.x and 8.x)

1. Get your license key for ESXi 8.x

It is a “Product Evaluation” license key for VMware vSphere Hypervisor 8.x, but it’s a never expire Product Evaluation.

../../../_images/Screenshot-ESXi-license.png

This is from my ESXi server

To download and get your license key for ESXi 8 (Once you get a license it never changes for ESXi 8.x you can alway use this link to find your license key).
Free VMware ESXi 8 License and download

Login if you already have a account or create one.

../../../_images/Screenshot-login-to-download.png

Example of ESXi 8 License and Download page.

../../../_images/Screenshot_download_ESXi-8.0U1-2.png

Your License Key and download information can be found here

Download ESXi Server Software

You have two download choices, ISO or ZIP (Offline Bundle) image.

  • The ISO is a bootable image you can install from.

  • The ZIP (Offline Bundle) image for upgrading an existing ESXi server or building a custom image.

The ISO has support for most INTEL and NE1000 network cards. This is the image you would choose if you have an INTEL NUC.

Link to supported PCIe INTEL network adapters “Community Networking Driver for ESXi” Fling.
ESXi 8 supported PCIe network adapters

The easiest way to determine if your network card is supported is to try the ISO image it only takes a few minutes to build and boot.

If your sever does not have a supported network adapter you will get this message when installing:

../../../_images/no_net_adapter_found.png

If you get this message you will need to use a USB network adapter (dongle) and build a custom image using the “USB Network Native Driver for ESXi” Fling (VMKUSB-NIC-FLING).

One example of this is a mini PC that uses the RTL-8125 chip, which are most AMD Rayzen mini PC’s with the 2.5G network adapter.

Download the VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) Offline Bundle zip file.

Server Hardware

The hardware that most home labs are using are the mini PC or NUC’s.

Two good sources for home lab ESXi servers, both sites are ran by VMware engineers.
William Lam
virten.net

The license key is the only thing you will need from this page, we will download