Using RMPrepUSB to install VMware ESXi 4.1 U1 on a USB stick

by Arjan | May 12, 2011 | VMware

To get VMware ESXi 4.1 U1 installed on a USB stick you’ll need to download these two items:

The VMware ESXi 4.1 U1 (Build 34381) ISO: Download here

The RMPrepUSB files: Download here

Once you’ve got hold of these, let’s start the installation:

First open the ESXi ISO using Winrar and open imagedd.bz2

The following screen will show:

Click Extract to, to extract the imagedd file to a location of your choice.

That’s all we need of the VMware ISO, the next thing we need to do is to start RMPrepUSB

Go to –> Start –> All Programs –> RMPrepUSB –> RMPrepUSB

The following screen will appear (make sure the USB stick is inserted) and click File – USB

The following screen will show appear: (Make sure All files is selected)

Click on the Imagedd file and press Open:

The following screen will appear, 0 is OK (you’re free to change it, but you’ll need at least 1GB) Press OK

The following screen will appear, again 0 is OK (Change if needed) Press OK

The following screen will appear, 0 is OK and press OK

The following screen will appear (check everything) and press OK

The installation process will begin with this screen:

You can monitor the process as shown in the next screen:

When the installation process is done, the following screen will appear, click OK:

We’re done! Take the USB stick and put it in a USB port on your server, make sure to select the boot from USB drive option in the BIOS and select to boot from USB first. You’ll need some kind of storage (SAN/NAS/DAS) to get the VM’s up and running.