WilliamLam.com

  • About
    • About
    • Privacy
  • VMware Cloud Foundation
  • VKS
  • Homelab
    • Resources
    • Nested Virtualization
  • VMware Nostalgia
  • Apple
You are here: Home / Uncategorized / Running ESXi 5.5/5.5u1 on Apple Mac Mini + Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter Caveat

Running ESXi 5.5/5.5u1 on Apple Mac Mini + Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter Caveat

09.03.2013 by William Lam // 160 Comments

I just upgraded my Apple Mac Mini 5,3 this morning from ESXi 5.1 Update 1 to the latest ESXi 5.5 release and I am very happy to report the upgrade worked flawlessly! When ESXi 5.5 is generally available, you will be able to just download the ISO and install or upgrade your existing Mac Mini without requiring additional drivers for the on-board network adapter to function correctly. If you have a Mac Mini 6,2 the old SMC issue has been resolved, but the PSOD issue is still occurring. As promised to some folks on Twitter, here is a custom ESXi 5.5 ISO for Mini 6,2 that you can just download and install without any manual intervention:

  • Download: ESXi-5.5-Mac-Mini-6.2.iso
  • Download: ESXi-5.5u1-Mac-Mini-6.2.iso

The only issue that I found is if you are using the Apple Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter, you will find that after the install/upgrade, the network adapter no longer shows up. Looking into this issue, it looks like with the release of ESXi 5.5 and the introduction of the new Native Driver architecture, it had a slight impact to the Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter. Having said that, the Apple Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter and Mac Mini was never officially supported, so we were actually lucky that it had worked in the first place.

The reason the Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter is not being recognized is that its device ID (14e4:1682) is not in tg3 (Broadcom) map file /etc/vmware/driver.map.d/tg3.map. If the device was officially supported, then it would have been automatically claimed by the vmkdevmgr which handles both vmklinux and Native Driver devices. The fix is actually quite simple and I have created a custom VIB called vghetto-apple-thunderbolder-ethernet.vib which will add the appriorpiate device ID to a new custom map file called /etc/vmware/driver.map.d/apple.map which will not collide with the existing tg3.map file. The reason for needing a custom VIB versus appending the device ID to something like /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh is that when the script runs it is too late from a networking stack point of view.

To install the custom VIB, you will need to upload it to your ESXi datastore and run the following command:

esxcli software vib install -v /vmfs/volumes/[DATASTORE]/vghetto-apple-thunderbolder-ethernet.vib -f

Now you can either use the vSphere Web/C# Client to verify the Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter is showing up or you can run esxcli network nic list.

More from my site

  • A killer custom Apple Mac Mini setup running VSAN
  • How to Netboot install ESXi onto Apple Mac Hardware?
  • Thunderbolt Storage for ESXi
  • Apple Mac Pro 5,1 now on VMware HCL for ESXi 5.5
  • Installing ESXi 5.1 Update 1 on Mac Mini is Now a Breeze! (No Custom ISO/patches Needed!)

Categories // Uncategorized Tags // apple, ESXi 5.5, mac mini, tg3, thunderbolt, vSphere 5.5

Comments

  1. *protectedAnonymous says

    09/03/2013 at 6:54 pm

    What about Mac mini Intel HD Graphic 4000 Support for vGPU? as described in vsphere 5.5 new features document. thanks.

    Reply
    • *protectedWilliam Lam says

      09/04/2013 at 4:35 am

      I don't believe the integrated graphics card would work with the new vGPU feature. I'm unable to enable the 3D graphics support when creating a VM. Perhaps it might work with newer version of the card, I have 3000 for Mini 5,3

      Reply
  2. *protectedDavid Davis says

    09/03/2013 at 6:59 pm

    Hi William,
    Great info - thanks!
    Question - what is your Mac Mini config (SSD/RAM/CPU)? How many VMs and nested VMs do you generally run on it with it still being usable? I am looking to upgrade my lab servers and would love to have something as small and quiet as a Mac Mini.
    Keep up those great blog posts!
    Thanks,
    David

    Reply
    • *protectedWilliam Lam says

      09/04/2013 at 4:43 am

      Hi David,

      Thanks for the comment!

      I have a Mac Mini 5,3 (Server) with 2.0ghz Core i7, 16GB of SDRAM (default is 4GB but I don't recall manufacture, just found them on AMZN). HD is WD SATA and Corsair SSD, I'm sure you can find larger capacity and cheaper prices now. I know a few other folks have several Mac Mini and will be using that to test VSAN in their home lab. Hope that helps David

      Reply
  3. *protectedAnonymous says

    09/04/2013 at 12:26 pm

    Hi,
    Any one tested on the Mac mini 6.2 yet, to see if the earlier issues still are there?

    William, thanks for a great blog!

    Reply
    • *protectedWilliam Lam says

      09/11/2013 at 3:32 am

      I just got a hold of a Mac Mini 6,2 and will be doing some testing. It looks like the SMC issue has been resolved, but the iovDisableIR work around is still needed (engineering hasn't been able to identify and fix the issue yet). Once vSphere 5.5 GA's, I'll build a custom ISO for the iovDisableIR so you don't have to add it before/after install

      Reply
  4. *protectedOl says

    09/04/2013 at 8:25 pm

    Hi,

    Would love to try that on a 6,2 server model.
    Will the ethernet card work at full speed 1000 ?

    Is it a special release? Why can't I download it on the VMware website ?

    Thanks!

    Ol

    Reply
    • *protectedWilliam Lam says

      09/11/2013 at 3:33 am

      I just got a hold of a Mac Mini 6,2 and will be doing some testing. The on-board should work at 1GBe. It looks like the SMC issue has been resolved, but the iovDisableIR work around is still needed (engineering hasn't been able to identify and fix the issue yet). Once vSphere 5.5 GA's, I'll build a custom ISO for the iovDisableIR so you don't have to add it before/after install

      Reply
  5. *protectedAndreas Peetz says

    09/09/2013 at 5:45 pm

    Hi William,

    can you share details about the "new native driver architecture" of ESXi?

    Thanks and best regards
    Andreas

    Reply
  6. *protectedAnonymous says

    09/10/2013 at 3:12 pm

    Have you used Beta version or is there a download available?

    Reply
  7. *protectedOran Turner says

    09/10/2013 at 7:07 pm

    William,

    Thanks for the instructions on adding a device ID to the tg3 map file...

    You really need to upgrade to the Mac Mini 6,2.

    Reply
    • *protectedWilliam Lam says

      09/11/2013 at 3:34 am

      If you would like to donate a Mac Mini 6,2 I'll take one 😉

      For now, I've been able to get my hands on a Mac Mini 6,2 for some testing

      Reply
    • *protectedOran Turner says

      09/11/2013 at 8:08 pm

      I would if I could! You've been so helpful to the Mac Mini / ESXi community.

      Great news on the test unit! Let us know soon if it's fully compatible with 5.5.

      Reply
  8. *protectedAnonymous says

    09/24/2013 at 9:47 pm

    Question: How do use the Web Client with ESXi 5.5? I am looking everywhere and cannot find it at all. Please help.

    Reply
  9. *protectedstevesanda says

    09/29/2013 at 2:36 am

    Call "HostNetworkSystem.UpdateVirtualSwitch" for object "networkSystem" on ESXi "192.168.1.11" failed.

    I'm running a Mac Mini 6,1 and used the custom ISO you provided (I had the PSOD issue when installing the previous version of ESXi) and I've followed the instructions above to install ESXi 5.5 and get the thunderbolt adapter to work and found success. However, after a reboot, the vnic adapter is removed from the vswitch it was assigned to. The network adapter is still available, but it is no longer associated with a vswitch. When I try to reassign the vnic to the vswitch, it shows me a list where two of the same vnics are listed and I must change the order of automatic/standby adapters on the vswitch (odd?). When I click to confirm the settings, this error appears:

    Call "HostNetworkSystem.UpdateVirtualSwitch" for object "networkSystem" on ESXi "192.168.1.11" failed.

    Do you have any suggestions?

    Reply
    • *protectedstevesanda says

      09/29/2013 at 2:43 am

      Also, when I try to delete the vswitch and try to create a new one with the specific vnic, the following error appears:

      Call "HostNetworkSystem.UpdateNetworkConfig" for object "networkSystem" on ESXi "192.168.1.10" failed.

      Reply
    • *protectedexpat_canadian says

      10/18/2013 at 3:23 pm

      I've also got this exact issue on a 5.3. Thing is Ive got that NIC dedicated to iSCSI storage, so it's rather important. I thought I'd cracked it by removing the vSwitch via shell (esxcli network vswitch standard remove --vswitch-name=vSwitch1), removing the iSCSI port binding from the iSCSI software initiator properties and then re-adding the vSwitch from the vCenter client. A rescan of the storage then found my iSCSI LUNs. I've now rebooted to see if it persists, and once again the vSwitch appears to lose the vmnic. And also, the port binding is still not appearing in the iSCSI initiator properties. BUT BIZARRELY... it's still working, as my storage has NOT disappeared! I've rescanned a few times to make sure, and now powered on a VM on the shared storage!

      Still... makes me nervous...

      Reply
    • *protectedArnór Kristjánsson says

      10/21/2013 at 10:26 am

      I'm seeing the same thing on a 6,2.

      Reply
    • *protectedArnór Kristjánsson says

      10/21/2013 at 9:19 pm

      On a Mac mini 6,2, with the Thunderbolt interface used for iSCSI, the steps to fix this seem to be:
      1) Remove the VMkernel portgroup from vSwitch1
      2) Remove the static and/or dynamic discovery items from the iSCSI adapter
      3) Remove vSwitch1
      4) Add vSwitch1 again, setting IP
      5) Add the static and/or dynamic discovery items from the iSCSI adapter
      6) Rescan

      Reply
    • *protectedexpat_canadian says

      10/22/2013 at 7:00 am

      Thing is... have you bounced the box and verified it persists? In my case, on a 5,3, the functionality persists... but the vSwitch appears to lose it's uplink, both in vCenter and in the shell. It was functioning fine until this morning when I decided to mess around with it. I wanted to see exactly what the behaviour was after a reboot and to see if I could recreate the initial problem and once again fix it using the steps I'd done previously and following the order you did it. Well... now I've properly broke it! It will not see my iSCSI storage any more. I've completely removed everything and started again... but still won't see the LUNs. I might do a restart of my NAS, but that involves shutting down everything on my other (whitebox) host too, which I can't do right this minute. Otherwise, might be a rebuild of the mac mini 5,3 from scratch...

      Reply
    • *protectedArnór Kristjánsson says

      10/22/2013 at 7:31 am

      I haven't had any issues with my 5,3 minis

      Reply
    • *protectedArnór Kristjánsson says

      10/22/2013 at 6:40 pm

      Running:
      esxcli network vswitch standard uplink remove --uplink-name=vmnic1 --vswitch-name=vSwitch1
      esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add --uplink-name=vmnic1 --vswitch-name=vSwitch1
      esxcli storage core adapter rescan --all

      makes the iSCSI LUNs available. Putting this in /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh doesn't seem to work, however.

      There are other issues on Mac mini 6,2, like ssh settings not sticking between reboots…

      Reply
    • *protectedWilliam Lam says

      10/23/2013 at 5:19 am

      I've updated the article to include a custom VIB which should fix the problem. Please let me know if you have any issues

      Reply
    • *protectedexpat_canadian says

      10/23/2013 at 5:37 am

      Hi WIlliam... does this VIB only apply to a 6,2... or will it sort out a 5,3 as well? I'm minutes away from a full rebuild of my 5,3, but if I can avoid it it would be nice. Many thanks for your work on this... always helpful!

      Reply
    • *protectedexpat_canadian says

      10/23/2013 at 6:05 am

      You sir are, as always, a genius. Thanks so much for this custom VIB. Banged it onto my 5,3... bounced it and voila... my LUNs appeared again. Avoided a rebuild... thanks again.

      Reply
  10. *protectedirom says

    10/03/2013 at 12:54 pm

    Did it finally work on Macmini6,1 ? I am going to buy Macmini6,1 just to run ESXi ..should I buy 6,2 ?

    Reply
    • *protectedWilliam Lam says

      10/23/2013 at 2:16 am

      If you're going to get a new Mac Mini, I would recommend getting the latest 6,2 and I believe there might even be a 6,3 that just came out today

      Reply
  11. *protectedJon Duren says

    10/07/2013 at 6:10 pm

    I am experiencing the same issue as stevesanda on a Mac Mini 6,2. The commands worked initially to enable the Thunderbolt adapter but after the first reboot, making any changes to the networking is met with the listed error. The adapter cannot be used after reboot.

    Reply
    • *protectedWilliam Lam says

      10/23/2013 at 2:22 am

      I just got my hands on a Mini 6,2 and will be looking into this problem when I get some time. I suspect this might have to do with the vSwitch networking loading before /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh executes as I'm seeing the same issue when binding to a vSwitch

      Reply
    • *protectedWilliam Lam says

      10/23/2013 at 5:18 am

      I've updated the article to include a custom VIB which should fix the problem. Please let me know if you have any issues

      Reply
    • *protectedJon Duren says

      11/01/2013 at 9:32 pm

      The new VIB definitely fixed the problem. The Thunderbolt adapter now loads appropriately, allowing the NFS service to mount the data stores properly.

      Reply
  12. *protectedClive Stone says

    10/09/2013 at 3:24 pm

    Hi,

    I just upgraded my 2012 Mac Mini from 5.1 to 5.5 and now my Lacie Thunderbolt disks are not accessible. Can anyone help me out here?

    Reply
    • *protectedWilliam Lam says

      10/23/2013 at 2:23 am

      Ah interesting, you might be the FIRST person to confirm a working Thunderbolt storage setup 🙂 If you don't mind sharing the model/etc. I suspect you might be hitting a similar issue to Thunderbolt Adapter when going to 5.5

      Reply
  13. *protectedPrajesh says

    10/20/2013 at 3:03 am

    Clive are you storing your VMson the Lacie Thunderbolt storage?

    Reply
  14. *protectedDirkoS says

    10/23/2013 at 7:07 pm

    Considering putting this on my 6,2 but would like to know whether 5.5 comes with the web client. And if it doesn't how can I get it.

    Reply
  15. *protectedBen Pellant says

    10/28/2013 at 3:17 pm

    Hi all,

    I noticed someone saying the update stopped their Thunderbolt drives from showing up. I haven't got mine to show up at all, has anyone had any success with this?

    Cheers

    Reply
    • *protectedWilliam Lam says

      10/29/2013 at 2:57 am

      Take a look at the updated article which includes a VIB to help solve that issue 🙂

      Reply
    • *protectedppasing says

      11/03/2013 at 7:59 am

      Hi Willam,
      I installed the 5.5 iso on USB-Stick and also the VIB is installed succesfully but i can't see my Thunderbolt disk.
      My Env: Macmini 6.2, WD Velociraptor DUO 2 TB
      Any help for this would be really appreciated.

      Reply
  16. *protectedLeo says

    10/29/2013 at 2:35 am

    Can anyone help me out. Just got a new Mac Mini v 6.2 and I'm trying to install the latest ISO from this post. I followed all of the steps here to copy it to a USB thumb drive but it's not being recognized when I hold down the ALT key.

    My Mac Mini has OSX Mountain Lion pre-installed (10.8.x).

    Thanks

    Reply
  17. *protectedWilliam Lam says

    10/29/2013 at 2:57 am

    What tool are you using to copy the ISO to USB key? The easiest way is to use a free tool called unetbootin which can run on any OS and you simply point the ISO to USB key and it'll copy the contents for you.

    Reply
  18. *protectedLeo says

    10/29/2013 at 6:50 pm

    I used unetbootin and at the end it says it won't boot on a Mac. I'm doing this on a Mac btw.

    Reply
    • *protectedLeo says

      10/29/2013 at 9:25 pm

      Disregard, it seems the USB Thumb Drive I was using was causing the issue. Found a new thumb drive and it's now loading.

      Reply
  19. *protectedLeo says

    10/29/2013 at 9:29 pm

    New issue, getting a RAM error, saying I have 3.91gb when I need 3.97. Any way around this until I upgrade to 16gb?

    Reply
  20. *protectedPaul says

    11/12/2013 at 7:46 am

    how would you do this on a thunderbolt port on a different platform (such as the gigabyte brix)? any clues? thanks!

    Reply
  21. *protectedBill Corrigan says

    11/18/2013 at 9:12 pm

    William, Thanks a lot for your work on this! I have followed you on this since 5.0 through 5.1 and now to 5.5. I find it best to wait a month or so and you work out the kinks that would stump me as a novice. I have iSCSI working and I can confirm your instructions above to rebuild it to get it to work.

    One problem that pipes up from time to time is a All Paths Down condition for my datastores. I haven't been able to work out a reliable solution or predictor of the problem. I end up doing a complete rebuild. Having near term backup images is essential to this.

    Again, thanks for all your work on this! -Bill

    Reply
  22. *protectedMisu says

    11/23/2013 at 8:22 pm

    Brand new here, my mac mini 6.1 it's on it's way form US. Since a vm will run winxp, ubuntu or osx for HTPC i was wondering if i can passtrough the video device. Will it work out of the box?
    Is ok to use the custom 5.5 iso for mac min 6.1 to or i made a mistake not buying a 6.2?
    Thanks in advance

    Reply
    • *protectedAndrew says

      12/01/2013 at 2:40 am

      Misu, I'm wanting to do the same thing and have been doing a lot of research on the topic and from what I have read thus far you need a 6,2 as a 6,1 doesn't support VT-d which is required in order to passthrough the video. With that said, I have a 6,2 and when every I try an enable video passthrough, on the subsequent reboot, it hangs when trying to boot at "iodm loaded successfully". I am consequently on the hunt for a driver update or patch to get video passthrough (HDMI) working.

      Reply
      • *protectedJorge says

        03/23/2015 at 6:57 pm

        Hello Andrew! In order to get Video passthrough do you need an external graphics card or the one internal intel hd 3000 works ok?

        Reply
    • *protectedElmo says

      12/14/2013 at 8:15 am

      I have a Mac Mini 5.2 (i7) with a dedicated GPU. I'm running a vCenter setup using the vSphere Web client do gain access to the extra functionality, since that's the only way to administer OS X Mavericks. I still cannot find a way to pass through this card to a VM. If I look at the hardware section for my host, the entire 'PCI Device' section is missing, although the GPU is listed under 'Graphics', albeit with 0Kb RAM. I'm thinking there is a driver missing that needs injecting but I haven't managed to find such a driver as yet. Any guidance or help is appreciated.

      Reply
    • *protectedreedog117 says

      07/12/2014 at 8:09 am

      I'm running on an earlier Mac Mini but would like to update to a later one so I can do video passthrough. Have you guys tried the instructions here to get video passthrough to work? Granted these instructions are for a Mac Pro, but you never know!

      http://www.patpro.net/blog/index.php/2012/12/01/2253-mac-os-x-on-vmware-esxi-ati-radeon-passthrough/

      Reply
  23. *protectedBrianH says

    12/03/2013 at 12:23 am

    I've got a stock macmini 5,3 (with the stock 4GB memory which I know is only enough to get by and not really enough - but then what is?). It's currently running ESXi 5.0 Update 1 and even with the annoying no auto start bug its a very cool environment!

    To kill that auto start bug, I decided to go straight to ESXi 5.5. However, after I downloaded the 5.5 ISO, burned it with Mac DiskUtility on my MacAir 2011, I put the super drive on the mini and used "C" at startup to get the installer going. All good, except that's the last thing it does (start the installer, actually running it isn't part of the process as yet).

    Any ideas (I downloaded and burned the ISO twice just to be sure I didn't have any file issues even though download manager is supposed to catch that)?

    Brian

    Reply
  24. *protectedThorough Lad says

    01/04/2014 at 12:13 pm

    I highly recommended This Storage facility!! Staff is so helpful and friendly. The storage is very clean and things are well-organized. Great service and nice people.
    Storage in Phillip

    Reply
  25. *protectedJosueVx says

    01/08/2014 at 5:55 pm

    Would this work with Mac Mini MD387LL/A model?

    Reply
  26. *protectedMine says

    01/10/2014 at 6:47 pm

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    Reply
  27. *protectedMine says

    01/12/2014 at 3:25 pm

    FYI I used this method for creating a bootable ESXi USB
    http://blog.macrepairsouthlondon.com/hardware/networking/create-esxi-usb-installer-mac-os-x/

    Reply
  28. *protectedGuido Craenen says

    01/17/2014 at 3:02 pm

    The 5.5. custom iso does not start up from a DVD-drive attached to a mac mini 6,2 (no bootable device, etc.). Burned it twice on different dvd's to be sure.

    When trying to install with a vanilla iso 5.5 from vmware burned on dvd, I can get upto the reboot sequence. Rebooting just gives the message "No bootbale device -- insert boot disk and press any key". I don't get to the shift+O step, so I'm stuck here.

    Reply
  29. *protectedDennis says

    01/20/2014 at 10:25 pm

    Hi all, is there still a problem with getting HA working in a cluster of 2 Mac Mini's? I have 1 node working but the other fails to get the HA agent installed. Thanks!

    Reply
  30. *protectedHans-Peter Aregger says

    01/23/2014 at 12:44 pm

    Hi all.
    I would like to use 2 or 3 MacMini in a small production environment. At the moment, i use 2 standard Dell Towerserver, but they are big and loud. I use no HA, but NFS Storage for all 6 VM's.
    3 Windows Server 2008, 3 Windows7 Clients. Backup via Veeam on a second NAS.
    Are the MacMinis working stable enough for an environment like this?
    Thanks for your help.

    Reply
  31. *protectedAlaa Kharfan says

    01/25/2014 at 1:05 am

    Hi All,

    I tried the above vib on 2 Mini's 6.2, it was executed successfully but still the ESX 5.5 cannot identify the thunderbolt. I appreciate your asistance.
    Thanks.

    Reply
  32. *protectedTariq says

    01/31/2014 at 8:01 pm

    Has anyone else found a solution to the "All Paths Down" problem? Maybe an automated reboot? Any help would be great.

    Reply
  33. *protectedTariq says

    01/31/2014 at 8:02 pm

    Unfortunately the APD problem usually occurs on the drive that I've installed esxi on, so it creates a very difficult problem

    Reply
  34. *protectedMatt says

    02/04/2014 at 11:45 pm

    When I'm booted up into the ESXi 5.5 installer, it can't see the internal hard drive. I deleted the only partition it had but still no go. Any ideas?

    Reply
  35. *protectedc10637a2-8ee5-11e3-8991-000bcdcb8a73 says

    02/06/2014 at 4:20 am

    I'm a brand new MacMini 6.2 + 16GB user and am trying ESXi 5.5 for the first time. I used the custom installer mentioned above. I got it installed and can access it from the Windows client but when I try to copy files to the ESXi I'm getting 50KB/sec (yes 50 *KB* )......much too slow to ever use. It takes almost forever just to upload a 2 MB file. Has anyone else seen this problem? Do I need an updated network driver? Or some tuning? This has been a show-stopper for me. I've been Googling for the last 5 days trying to figure it out. Any help appreciated.

    - DWS

    Reply
  36. *protectedphiofn says

    02/25/2014 at 10:21 am

    While trying to enable a Thunderbolt-Adapter on my Mac Mini 5,3 running (vanilla) ESXi 5.5.0 (1331820-standard) I found this blog postl. I successfully imported the provided VIB file via SSH but the Thunderbolt-Adapter still does not show up. Any hints?

    Reply
    • lamw says

      03/02/2014 at 1:09 am

      Have you rebooted the Mac Mini after installing the VIB?

      Reply
      • *protectedMaurice David Wörnhard says

        03/17/2014 at 12:42 pm

        Of course I rebooted the host (pretty much everything in normal IT seems to require a reboot as part of troubleshooting) - but it did not help. Just by chance I discovered today (when upgrading to 5.5 Update 1) that there is something called "acceptance level" which I had to set to CommunitySupported (esxcli software acceptance set --level=CommunitySupported). After a reboot, the Thunderbold Adapter now shows up as expected. Thanks!

        Reply
  37. *protectedHenning says

    03/01/2014 at 11:06 pm

    hi,

    I have issue with the installation of the .iso file on MacMini 6,2. After the reboot ESXi hangs and shows the "Relocating modules and starting up the kernel..." message. Adding the "ignoreHeadless=TRUE" option to the boot process doesn't seam to be recognized.

    An help will be highly appreciated 🙂

    Henning

    Reply
  38. *protectedguy moore says

    03/06/2014 at 1:51 am

    This is a great thread and I've learned a bunch, but.. can you please clarify if this works for a late 2013 IMAC too or, if not why it will not. thanks.

    Reply
  39. *protectedMarc says

    03/13/2014 at 6:44 pm

    Will your custom 5.5u1 image work on a mid-2011 mac mini as well?

    Reply
    • William Lam says

      03/13/2014 at 8:08 pm

      It should, most of the tweaks were for the Mac Mini 6,2 due to known issues.

      Reply
      • *protectedMarc says

        03/13/2014 at 8:17 pm

        Awesome, I'll let you know how it goes.

        Reply
      • *protectedMarc says

        03/15/2014 at 1:44 am

        Worked like a charm. This is possibly a newb question but what client software is used to manage the guest OS instances. All I can find is a Windows client, though I've read something about a web client having more features.

        Reply
  40. *protectedGraham says

    03/17/2014 at 11:58 pm

    I prefer the windows client, feels more solid and direct if that makes sense, wish they had made one for Mac OS or even a app for iOS, anyone have a Mac Mini 6.3???? I have two Mini Macs first one is a 6.1 and i bought another last week which shows up as 6.3

    Reply
  41. *protectedawx says

    03/18/2014 at 9:49 am

    hi!
    do you think that i can update my existing macmini 6.2 esxi 5.5 host with this tutorial?
    http://www.v-front.de/2014/03/how-to-update-your-standalone-host-to.html
    i haven't done an esxi update before.
    what do i have to do if the above doesn't work?
    greetz
    awx

    Reply
  42. *protectedfabiomeneses says

    03/19/2014 at 6:29 pm

    Congratulation for the procedure. 99% done!
    Do you think the Broadcom procedure, may work for the Gigabit NIC with USB connector? If not, there is any way to make ESX recognize it?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • William Lam says

      03/21/2014 at 10:33 pm

      afaik, no. I've tested a couple awhile back including Apple's USB Ethernet adapter and had no success.

      Reply
    • *protectedJesse says

      06/23/2014 at 8:50 pm

      fabiomeneses, or William, any updates on getting "any" USB NIC to work on the Mac MIni's? Or any ideas of direction we should go?

      We are trying to find a custom build for a client who wants to use USB to Ethernet, essentially getting 6 active NIC on EXSI 5.5 Mac Mini and are stuck. =) We currently have the two, internal and the Thunderbolt thanks to Williams detailed help on this site. Wish to use 4 of the USB ports for 4 more NICs.

      Reply
      • *protectedJesse says

        08/08/2014 at 5:28 pm

        Any update on using USB to Ethernet, anyone? Have had no success on this end.

        Reply
        • William Lam says

          08/08/2014 at 6:26 pm

          I've not any luck

          Reply
  43. *protectedGreg says

    03/24/2014 at 9:04 pm

    Hi William,

    I'm trying to get the Thunderbolt Ethernet working on an Intel NUC. ESX 5.1 reports the No network adapters, on the off-chance I tried your custom 5.5 image assuming the device ID of the Apple Thunderbolt connector would be the same but the installer hangs at "Loading /custom.tgz". Any ideas?

    Thanks,
    Greg

    Reply
    • William Lam says

      03/25/2014 at 12:04 am

      For testing purposes, you could install ESXi (assuming there's onboard, not used NUC before) and then manually add the ID and reload vmkdevmgr to see if that works

      Reply
    • *protectedlukasz says

      04/13/2014 at 12:23 pm

      I had the same problem. You need upgrade nuc's firmware to latest 49.

      But I have still one issue with my nuc, because if network utilization is high ex. cloning nfs -> iscsi the nuc freeze randomly.
      I'am writting about DS3217BY. iovDisableIR was changed also.

      Reply
      • *protectedlukasz says

        04/14/2014 at 5:01 pm

        I have found the solution. First of all, upgrade your driver.
        driver: tg3
        version: 3.136e.v55.1
        firmware-version: 57762-a1.10
        bus-info: 0000:07:00.0

        Change default configuration in BIOS settings. PCIe latency -> 128 and disable dynamic cpu performance or something like that and it appears that your intel nuc with thunderbolt will be working stable even high network utilization.

        Reply
        • *protectedGreg says

          05/09/2014 at 7:30 am

          Lukasz,

          My NUC was locking up under heavy network load. It appears to be because of overheating. http://techreport.com/news/24286/intel-tackles-nuc-heat-issues-with-fan-speed-tweak-ssd-fix

          I lowered the temperature at which the fan kicks in to 68 degrees and it seams stable. I also removed the gauze over the fan vents to improve air flow.

          Reply
  44. *protectedFrank says

    03/29/2014 at 12:09 pm

    Did download (different browsers) and burn (slow and verify) twice the image ESXi-5.5u1-Mac-Mini-6.2.iso and got twice checksum error when loading the image... Maybe we should verify the download file? ESXi-5.5-Mac-Mini-6.2.iso did work fine.

    Reply
    • William Lam says

      03/30/2014 at 3:38 pm

      I can only suspect this is an issue with your download since I have several others confirming the download is working for them. Have you considered trying it on a different machine?

      Reply
      • *protectedKerb says

        04/28/2014 at 2:14 am

        Hi, tried on 3 different machines, used FireFox, Chrome and still having Checksum error, sorry... message.
        No other resource to try, I believe that's the MEGA file thing, which is the only thing different from this ISO to all others I've downloaded previously and work just fine, except the ones hosted by MEGA.

        doesn't work sorry....

        Reply
        • William Lam says

          04/29/2014 at 3:51 am

          There have been many people who have not had any issues with the download. Most that do hit issues, it's due to either an incomplete or corrupted download. You may want to try a different system to download the image

          Reply
          • *protectedKerb says

            04/29/2014 at 4:37 am

            Thank you William,

            I tried many systems and when I used my USB DVD/ROM at the Mac-Mini to boot up from the images downloaded none of them worked, however, they all booted up successfully on 2 iMacs and 2 MacBook Pros, I then switched to a simple 8GB USB stick with an image created from a regular Rufus, and it worked like a charm on the Mac Mini (loading from pressing Option key only).
            I have no idea why my CD/DVD Rom is not working on my Mac Mini but, now the images work :)))
            The fist baby was born, now I intend to stack up 2 more Minies and have enough processing power to manage a Security lab with multiple firewalls and a Penn Testing environment as well.

            Thank you for both images, and the reply.

            Best,

            Kerb

          • William Lam says

            04/29/2014 at 1:46 pm

            Awesome to hear you got things working! I normally just boot off USB device (so much easier and you can have different version of ESXi on different USB keys & they're so cheap). unetbootin is a great tool for taking ISO and making bootable ESXi install

            Great use case for home lab. Hope you share more details if you plan on blogging about it, I'm sure others may find it useful too

  45. *protectedTeddy Francois says

    03/31/2014 at 6:22 pm

    Hi, William. Thank you for all your work here. I have a Mac Mini 6.2 and I was able to install ESXi 5.5u1 onto it with no problem with this applicable ISO above. But for whatever reason, my unit does not recognize the Thunderbolt ethernet NIC at all. I have even tried manually installing the .vib file and rebooting...and nothing. Can you help me understand why it's not working for me? Any suggestions? Thanks!

    Reply
    • William Lam says

      03/31/2014 at 7:11 pm

      I've been able to confirm myself w/latest 5.5u1 & VIB that Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter still works, wondering if there are newer version of the adapter.

      Can you confirm a couple of things:

      1) Ensure /etc/vmware/driver.map.d/apple.map exists & contains entry for 14e4:1682
      2) Paste the contents of "esxcli hardware pci list", it might be quite verbose so you may want to just put it somewhere on the web and just provide a link to the output

      Reply
      • *protectedTeddy Francois says

        03/31/2014 at 8:27 pm

        Thank you for the reply sir. I did confirm that the file exists...I even took it a step further and manually added the entry into the tc3 driver file, rebooted and nothing works. Here is the output from the command you sent:
        ftp://mail.imsnyc.com/pci_list.txt

        Reply
        • William Lam says

          03/31/2014 at 8:35 pm

          I was hoping the PCI ID would be listed in the output, but it doesn't look like it. You'll need to plug the device into a system either Mac OS X or Windows and see what it's being detected as. I suspect that's the issue ...

          Reply
  46. *protectedMatthew Shaw says

    05/03/2014 at 5:00 am

    I want to use a USB to GB Ethernet devce as an extra NIC for my Mac Mini. Apparently these are the correct drivers for my device: ax88179vz024/025/026 and usbnetvz0024/25/26.
    I was wondering if anyone can help me getting a copy? I have looked all over the place, and yes even the manufacturers.

    Reply
    • *protectedMatthew Shaw says

      05/03/2014 at 5:04 am

      For the drivers see: https://communities.vmware.com/message/2333018
      For the process: https://communities.vmware.com/message/2198621

      Reply
      • *protectedJesse VK says

        06/10/2014 at 7:15 pm

        No driver link at pages, any other links is appreciated. Referring to USB NIC for Mac Mini drivers ax88179vz024/025/026 & usbnetvz0024/25/26 drivers

        Reply
    • *protectedMatt says

      05/06/2014 at 8:44 am

      Thinking of building a Linux machine on my Mac Mini to compile the drivers.
      What would be the best and closest flavour and version?

      Reply
  47. *protectedbradleydavisjr says

    05/06/2014 at 3:18 am

    Hey William, I purchase a 'BOXDC3217BY' and added the Thunderbolt VIB you provided to a custom ISO of ESXi and was able to install correctly. I am able to get ESXi booted and run some VMs on it, but after maybe 12 hours (I rebooted at lunch), the NIC will stop responding. This may not be time related as this last time I was trying to install CentOS 6.5 into a VM and was testing the centos ISO (just because I could, no other reason), and I lost my vCenter connection. Are there any specific logs you would want me to look at? Any thoughts on what could be causing my adapter to drop out like this?

    Reply
    • *protectedbradleydavisjr says

      05/07/2014 at 3:05 pm

      So I am not sure it is even my Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter, but has anyone noticed any issues with excessive I/O on it? I was attempting to do an OS Install and it flaked out again.

      Otherwise, i'm thinking it may be my memory...

      Reply
      • *protectedbradleydavisjr says

        05/08/2014 at 2:56 pm

        It was my memory... Nothing to do with the Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter

        Reply
  48. *protectedKevin says

    05/07/2014 at 6:16 pm

    Is this supposed to work on a Mac Mini 5,1 ?

    because I can't get that command to do anything it keeps giving me a no such file or path error. I moved the vib to the datastore and can see it from the server itself when using the local cli with F1. The command itself just errors out tho.

    Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

    Reply
    • *protectedbradleydavisjr says

      05/08/2014 at 2:51 pm

      You have to make sure you are specifying the full path to the VIB. Please copy and paste your screen output here

      Reply
  49. *protectedMatthew says

    05/12/2014 at 11:04 pm

    have you tried this process with a new MacPro? (Black thermos style)

    I tried the stock installer and yours, both hung on "Relocating modules and starting up kernel.."

    Do you think vmware support has had any experience with this yet?
    thanks.

    Reply
    • William Lam says

      05/15/2014 at 4:31 pm

      The plan is to support the new Mac Pro, stay tuned

      Reply
  50. *protectedJames says

    05/30/2014 at 9:24 am

    Hi William,

    Thanks for all the support for ESXi on Mac Mini. I've got two Mac Minis both 6,2 versions in my home lab. One is running 5.5u1, the other 5.5u1 plus updates ESXi550-201404001 and ESXi550-201404020. I have installed the Thunderbolt vib on both machines. On the Mac with only 5.5u1 installed, the thunderbolt adapter is recognized and works. On the other, it isn't even detected (not shown in esxcli network nic list). I've swapped the adapters around and proved that they are both working on the 5.5u1 machine, so there's no problem there. I have checked the file /etc/vmware/driver.map.d/apple.map exists & contains entry for 14e4:1682 on the machine where the Thunderbolt isn't working. Could it be that the two updates (ESXi550-201404001 and ESXi550-201404020) have stopped the adapter working, or could it be that the thunderbolt port on the mac is defective?

    Any help you could give would be brilliant.

    Many thanks,
    james

    Reply
    • *protectedJames says

      05/30/2014 at 11:06 am

      Some more information - it seems the Thunderbolt port isn't detected on the machine on which I've installed those two updates. On the machine where the Thunderbolt adapters work, I see an entry in the esxcli hardware pci list output:

      Vendor Name: Intel Corporation
      Device Name: DSL3510 Thunderbolt Port [Cactus Ridge]

      But that isn't present on the machine where the Thunderbolt adapters don't work. So, either the port is defective, or I guess those two updates ESXi550-201404001 and ESXi550-201404020 have somehow stopped detection of the port? Can that be?

      BTW - I also concur with Maurice David Wörnhard to install the Thunderbolt VIB, I needed to run:

      esxcli software acceptance set --level=CommunitySupported

      Reply
      • *protectedbradleydavisjr says

        05/30/2014 at 2:46 pm

        Is your MacMini running the latest firmware? Have you loaded up a different linux distro and run 'lspsi' there to see the thunderbolt port?

        Reply
        • *protectedJames says

          05/30/2014 at 4:02 pm

          Hi,

          I haven't had time to try a different Linux distro, but I did re-install OS X and that also doesn't recognize the adapter when it is inserted. I installed an lspci port (http://rampagedev.wordpress.com/more-guides/use-lspci-for-info/) and that doesn't detect the thunderbolt card either.

          Strangely, the port works for my DisplayPort monitor.

          I have checked for new software, and installed everything. The firmware appears to be uptodate. My current working theory is that the hardware is defective. Unless someone has some other suggestions, I guess it will be an expensive trip to the Genius Bar for me?

          Cheers,
          James

          Reply
  51. *protectedAlvin from the Philippines says

    05/31/2014 at 11:08 pm

    Hi, All.

    Good day to everyone!, I'm Alvin from the Philippines and I'm starting to study VMware vSphere, vCenter Server and ESXi. Since most of the post here are about Mac Mini's running VMware technologies, I'm thinking to purchase one myself, the latest one at MacStore with processor core i7 2.60GHZ and 16GB RAM, my concern is the Integrated Graphics card that comes with the the Intel 4000, does graphics card really mater when my plan setup is:

    VMware Fusion
    -ESXi
    -Vcenter Server
    -VMware vSphere
    -Windows Server 2008/2012

    I Hope you guys can help me out, my second option is to build a PC with the same amount of specifications and budget but a more powerful Graphics Card.

    Reply
  52. *protecteddvmrp says

    06/11/2014 at 2:15 pm

    Hi All,

    I'm trying to install the ESXi on a external SATA HDD via Lacie Thunderbolt SATA bridge. However, it cannot be detected by the installer. Is there any way to make it work. Thanks again.

    Reply
    • William Lam says

      06/11/2014 at 2:28 pm

      I'm not aware of a way to make this work, if the device is not even being detected. Can you provide the output of lspci -v on the ESXi Shell?

      Reply
      • *protectedJeffrey Yung says

        06/30/2014 at 2:04 pm

        Hi William, I installed a VIB (http://www.v-front.de/2013/11/how-to-make-your-unsupported-sata-ahci.html) and then the storage adapter is detected as vmhba1 and vmhba32. However, the attached hdd is not able to be detected. According to that article it could be related to a bug with VT-d. How can I disable VT-d in the latest version of Mac mini? Thanks.

        I'm also using the 5.5

        ~ # esxcli storage core adapter list
        HBA Name Driver Link State UID Description
        -------- --------- ---------- ------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        vmhba38 iscsi_vmk online iscsi.vmhba38 iSCSI Software Adapter
        vmhba0 ahci link-n/a sata.vmhba0 (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Panther Point AHCI Controller
        vmhba1 ahci link-n/a sata.vmhba1 (0:9:0.0) Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88SE9182 PCIe SATA 6.0 Gb/s controller
        vmhba32 ahci link-n/a sata.vmhba32 (0:9:0.0) Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88SE9182 PCIe SATA 6.0 Gb/s controller
        vmhba33 ahci link-n/a sata.vmhba33 (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Panther Point AHCI Controller
        vmhba34 ahci link-n/a sata.vmhba34 (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Panther Point AHCI Controller
        vmhba35 ahci link-n/a sata.vmhba35 (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Panther Point AHCI Controller
        vmhba36 ahci link-n/a sata.vmhba36 (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Panther Point AHCI Controller
        vmhba37 ahci link-n/a sata.vmhba37 (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Panther Point AHCI Controller

        Reply
        • *protectedJeffrey Yung says

          07/01/2014 at 12:08 am

          I found that passthrough can be configured in ESXi 5.5. As the SATA bridge works under OSX, do you think it's a driver issue in ESXi?

          Reply
  53. *protectedKelly says

    06/18/2014 at 1:41 am

    Hi William, have you been able to get any other storage platforms to connect to a Mac mini running ESXi 5.5u1 other then NAS for use as data stores? For instance, thunderbolt or firewire attached. Also, what NAS solutions do you like? Thanks for all the info on your site!

    Reply
    • William Lam says

      06/24/2014 at 2:26 am

      I've not personally. However, there was someone that was able to get a Pegasus R6 Thunderbolt storage system working w/ESXi on Mac Mini, you can find the details here https://communities.vmware.com/message/2388450#2388450

      Reply
  54. *protectedvirag0 says

    07/02/2014 at 12:34 pm

    Hi, I have been running esxi 5.5.0 on the mac mini with iscsi over thunderbolt ethernet for some time and want to upgrade the system. What are the recommended updates for this Setup? Is there a single update or recommended set of patches I can install?

    Thanks
    rachel

    Reply
    • William Lam says

      07/02/2014 at 1:59 pm

      There's been a few 5.5 patches, so you'll need to download them and just go through the update process using ESXCLI

      Reply
  55. *protectedChris McClenaghan says

    07/04/2014 at 2:55 am

    William - this site is great!

    I've installed your 5.5U1 iso on a Mac Mini 6,2 with 16GB using 1GB USB drive for the boot device, the 1 TB HDD is used as the datastore. Everything just works, mostly, which is great. I have to VMs installed on the host, both OSX 10.9. The problem I'm having is using a host attached CD/DVD player as a source for iTunes music import. I've attached the USB CD/DVD drive to the VMs both as a host based IDE device and as a SCSI device. The device appears and CDs inserted are identified. However the import of music "fails" as only 50-100 KB of data are copied for each 9-14 MB song. The "same" thing happens if I play the CD - no sound, just skips through the CD in about 30 seconds. I've swapped out the USB CD, swapped out the CD, tested all against known working and found no failure in either CD or CD player. I've reinstalled OSX and problem seems reproducible. I searched for similar complaints and cannot find anything that seems to relate.

    I don't see any user level reporting of errors, but suspect somewhere there is some I/O errors logged. Any ideas on where to look? Any reason a host attached CD/DVD wouldn't work?

    Again, thanks for the great site and support.

    Reply
  56. *protectedstephen boyle says

    07/30/2014 at 5:09 pm

    thanks so much for the hard work here! 🙂 i have two new minis (6,2) running 5.5u1 now... i am also having an issue with two brand new thunderbolt adapters being recognized by the system as well. i have attached a link to the output of various commands to get more info here:
    http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=ySGQLGEe

    Reply
    • *protectedstephen boyle says

      07/30/2014 at 9:12 pm

      actually hang on -- one of the minis is seeing it now - but the other is not - will investigate further..

      Reply
    • *protectedstephen boyle says

      07/30/2014 at 9:49 pm

      weird -- one of the minis isnt even detecting any thunderbolt... ill have to boot to something else to check... i have included what is missing from lspci -v on the problematic mini...

      http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=yXnP1Gmy

      Reply
  57. *protectedCraig Coonrad says

    08/04/2014 at 8:04 am

    Thank you for this excellent resource.

    My mac mini (6,1) was freed from desktop use and is now running 5.5u1. I applied the custom VIB and the Thunderbolt Ethernet is up and happy at 1000Mb/s.

    A note on something I ran in to: I decided to boot from a Mavericks USB so I could apply a firmware password. Once this was complete, OS X appeared to disable the ESXi boot disk. A reboot brought a blinky folder icon. To resolve this I had to boot back in to Mavericks USB and 'bless' the ESXi EFI boot partition. In my case disk0s1:

    bless –device /dev/disk0s1 –setboot –verbose

    I also followed the process to enable auto startup:
    http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2013/02/enable-auto-startup-after-power-failure.html

    The OS X method of:

    Terminal$ pmset autorestart 1

    ...does not appear to be persistent. If you set it and reboot back in to OS X, it will be back to 0 again.

    The Ubuntu method in the above link, does appear to be persistent (as long as you don't boot in to OS X).

    Thanks again William

    Reply
  58. *protectedVictor says

    08/16/2014 at 1:19 am

    Hi, for the MacMini 6,2 running the older images (5.0/5.1) with Thunderbolt-Ethernet enabled and PSOD workaround, can you make a package that enables us to update to the latest release using your procedures at http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2012/09/a-pretty-cool-method-of-upgrading-to.html ?

    Reply
  59. *protectedHelmar Gordon Dahmer says

    08/21/2014 at 9:35 am

    Hi William,

    thanks for this great blog and your time you are investing in this topic.
    I am currently setting up the third MAC mini, which works very well.
    The setup is the following:
    MAC mini 6.2 (2,3 GHz i7 MD388D/A)
    512GB Samsung SSD 850 PRO
    16GB RAM (2x Kingston - KTA-MB1600/8G DDR3-1600 PC3-12800)
    8GB Kingston DataTraveler Micro USB-Flashdrive
    ESXI 5.5 U1 (the customised one which can be downloaded here)

    Questions:
    1. Did anyone try to install VmWare on a SHDC-Card? Some VmWare Gurus prefer SDHC-cards over USB-flash-drives?
    2. Did anyone get the Wifi to run in a VM? If yes, how?
    3. I successfully installed the Thunderbolt-VOB, but as some mentioned before the NIC is not listed in vSphere.
    The entries in Apple.map are there. The question now is whether the NIC only shows up when a Thunderbold to Ethernet
    adapter is connected to the thunderbolt port (currently nothing is connected). May that be the reason?
    4. I did the pmset autorestart-thing and pulled the power cable. So it is persistent and works well. But the Mac mini restarts
    only it case it was switched on when the blackout starts. I use a APC USV (Backup up battery) where its software shuts down
    all VMs and the Vmware. This needs to be changed the way that only the VMs are shutdown gracefully but not vmware.
    Maybe it would be best (to avoid damage to the vmware setup) to have a sequence
    shutdown all VMs > enable maintenance mode > disable maintenance mode ....then wait for the blackout.
    Any experience with it?

    Last thing:
    I could reproduce the "checksum error" that Kerb and Frank reported in end of March.
    It only came up when other USB devices were plugged in the mac mini. When I unplugged them (only USB-DVD-Rom and keyboard connected),the DVD with the 5.5u1 image booted normally. So I inserted the target USB flash drive after booting.

    Thanks again
    Helmar

    Reply
  60. *protectedDevin Akin says

    09/19/2014 at 12:45 am

    I just wanted to say thanks William. I've come back to this blog over and over, and your work is very appreciated!

    Reply
  61. *protectedWalter Towbin says

    10/06/2014 at 3:56 pm

    I am trying to install ESXi-5.5u1-Mac-Mini-6.2.iso on MACBookPro 5.3. The installation process gets stuck on "Select Disk to Install or Upgrade". It shows Local Storage as none (remote is the same).

    Can I install ESXI on MACBookPro 5.3 at all ? and if so, what am I missing ?

    I understand that this is rather basic issue (perhaps not sufficient research ahead of time), but will greatly appreciate any help or pointers,

    Thx in advance, Walter

    Reply
    • William Lam says

      10/07/2014 at 3:01 pm

      I've tried to install ESXi on an older generation MacBook Pro but ran into similar issues, figured it might not have been possible but looks like that might be the case for new generations as well.

      Reply
  62. *protectedeugene says

    10/28/2014 at 3:40 pm

    Has anyone tried this yet on the new (2014) Mac Minis? I've got one on the way, and just want to see what to expect. Also, I couldn't figure out from the thread, but does anyone here actually have Thunderbolt storage working reliably?

    Reply
    • William Lam says

      10/28/2014 at 3:47 pm

      Take a look here regarding 2014 Mac Mini http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2014/10/esxi-support-for-2014-apple-mac-mini-71.html

      Regarding TB Storage, the only one that I've heard of that has been successful is Pegasus R6. Reference is here https://communities.vmware.com/message/2388450#2388450

      Reply
  63. *protectedIntuitive says

    10/29/2014 at 4:11 am

    I have a MAC Mini 6,2. I used the ESXi-5.5u1-Mac-Mini-6.2.iso and the installation ran smooth. The issue I am seeing is that I cannot see both the onboard and wifi nic, only the onboard ethernet nic. I installed the custom vib. That did not change anything. Any thoughts on what I'm (obviously) doing wrong? Thanks!

    Reply
    • William Lam says

      10/29/2014 at 12:53 pm

      WiFi NIC? That isn't expected to show up 🙂 so the behavior you're seeing is correct. If you want an additional Ethernet connection, you will need to purchase the Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter, the WiFi will NOT be seen by ESXi

      Reply
      • *protectedIntuitive says

        10/29/2014 at 1:17 pm

        Not expected 🙁 .....many thanks for assisting this rookie! Have a blessed day!

        Reply
  64. *protectedDD says

    11/02/2014 at 5:41 pm

    Nice work. I'm attempting to install 5.5 u2 on my iMac (27inch, i5, late 2013 model) and am unable to continue because of, apparently, a lack of usb support (...I'm unable to "Press " to continue because all usb support seems to cease following the driver load page).

    Any suggestions?

    Reply
  65. *protectedDD says

    11/02/2014 at 7:13 pm

    Perhaps a way to integrate the AppleUSBFTDI kernel driver into the VMWare installation ISO would resolve my issue; if so, how would I go about accomplishing it?

    Reply
  66. *protectedDD says

    11/02/2014 at 8:17 pm

    SUCCESS! Used Update 2 Patch 3..included both USB and Bluetooth support!

    Thanks for the articles, they led me down the proper trail.

    Reply
  67. *protectedstephen boyle says

    11/05/2014 at 4:24 pm

    not sure if this is too far off topic -- but for my small testing setup i am trying to figure out more economical way to add more nics to my mini vm's. it looks like the ax88179 usb3 ethernet adapter has not had anyone update the driver for ESXi 5.5 even though it works in 5.1. beyond that i have looked into something like:

    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/TTPX/

    and

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4B41FE9036

    the intel card is on the supported list and thunderbolt should just pass it through... other than that unless someone else has a brilliant idea -- has anyone tried one of the thunderbolt docks? i would presume they would not work as there is a custom card in the thunderbolt box etc.. something like:

    http://www.caldigit.com/thunderboltstation/

    has anyone heard of anything updated with a usb3 gigabit nic on 5.5?? i may set up a machine on 5.1 for testing anyways...

    Reply
  68. *protectedAjay Gulani says

    11/18/2014 at 11:17 am

    Firstly - I love the info on this site - very useful. I have deployed 4 MacMini6,2 hosts. I am trying to upgrade using update manager, but when I try and upload the ISO image for the 5.5 image it keeps complaining that the image is corrupt. Anyone else get this?

    Reply
    • *protectedHelmar Gordon Dahmer says

      11/18/2014 at 12:07 pm

      Maybe my post from August helps:
      [...]
      I could reproduce the “checksum error” that Kerb and Frank reported in end of March.
      It only came up when other USB devices were plugged in the mac mini. When I unplugged them (only USB-DVD-Rom and keyboard connected),the DVD with the 5.5u1 image booted normally. So I inserted the target USB flash drive after booting.

      Reply
      • *protectedAjay Gulani says

        11/19/2014 at 10:07 am

        This is just uploading to update manager so I can upgrade from remote - no USB attached.
        I did some further testing, i found that I am able to upload the standard vmware esxi 5.5 image, but when I try and upload the ESXi-5.5-Mac-Mini-6.2.iso is says "Failed to import data" "the uploaded upgrade package is corrupt".
        So just wondering if anyone has used update manager to upgrade their mac minis?

        Reply
  69. *protectedtobias says

    01/11/2015 at 9:48 am

    Hi, I recently made a clean install of 5.5u2 on a Mac mini 5.3 - it seems as if the thunderbolt adapter works without any additional modifications now ... one thing i don't like is that my synology iscsi Connection is not automatically restored after a reboot i need to scan for storage devices one time and then it works...

    Reply
    • *protectedBrian says

      02/10/2015 at 2:38 pm

      Same issue Mac mini 6,2 with 5.5u2 and Thunderbolt dedicated to storage link to Synology iSCSI. Not a huge deal, more of an inconvenience.

      Reply
  70. *protectedSteen says

    02/26/2015 at 1:17 am

    Just getting ready to buy my first Macmini, running EXSi. What are the difference between the MACmini version numbers and how/where do I see the difference between version 5,x and 6.x.

    Thanks in advance

    Reply
    • William Lam says

      02/26/2015 at 10:12 pm

      They're the different models which you can search for online to see their specs and what can be configured. Only the latest ones (7.x) are being sold directly from Apple.

      Reply
  71. *protectedganado says

    03/26/2015 at 10:36 am

    Thank you, this article is really helpful

    Reply
  72. *protectedGeorge says

    05/08/2016 at 10:08 am

    Hello, building two server lab on Mac Mini 6,2. Used the 5.5 iso you created way back. vcenter vcsa installed. Working on Thunderbolt driver now to get extra nic so I can use iSCSI and/or NFS. Using your vib, I placed in datastore (still local disk (1TB)) and ran esxcli command. No mater how I run the esxcli command I get errno 2 (file not found). Tried chmoding the file, using absolute or relative path etc. Any help would be appreciated.

    login as: root
    Using keyboard-interactive authentication.
    Password:
    The time and date of this login have been sent to the system logs.

    VMware offers supported, powerful system administration tools. Please
    see http://www.vmware.com/go/sysadmintools for details.
    /vmfs/volumes/5725262a-9b9185d9-1b40-685b35afbb1c # which esxcli
    /bin/esxcli
    /vmfs/volumes/5725262a-9b9185d9-1b40-685b35afbb1c # esxcli software vib install -v
    /vmfs/volumes/5725262a-9b9185d9-1b40-685b35afbb1c #
    /vmfs/volumes/5725262a-9b9185d9-1b40-685b35afbb1c # esxcli software vib install -v /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/vghetto-
    [VibDownloadError]
    ('/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/vghetto-apple-thunderbolder-ethernet.vib', '', "[Errno 4] IOError: <urlopen error [Errno
    url = /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/vghetto-apple-thunderbolder-ethernet.vib
    Please refer to the log file for more details.

    Reply
    • *protectedGeorge says

      05/08/2016 at 12:18 pm

      Took a break, ssh timed out. Logged in again, pulled command up in history and it ran fine. Can't explain it but lets chalk it up to user error. Had to reboot to detect new adapter. Soldiering on to second host. Thanks so much for making the resources available William. I am learning a ton!

      Reply
  73. *protectedRhinofart says

    05/10/2016 at 10:33 am

    Has anybody had 2 Mac Mini's hooked up to the same Thunderbolt Storage Array at the same time? I was thinking of replacing my xServe 2,1 with another Mac Mini (heat, and power reduction thoughts), but was thinking that it would be great if the MacMini's could both be hooked up to my Promise Pegasus R6 at the same time, and both be able to use it. My current single Mac Mini works perfectly well as an ESXi host and the TB storage array is super snappy.

    Reply
  74. *protectedraulmad says

    12/25/2016 at 2:26 pm

    Hi all
    I've followed the post with a Mac Min 5.1 (mid 2011 ) and esx 5.5.
    I've installed the custom VIB without any error but esxcli network nic list command is not showing the Thunderbolt Ethernet (is not showed in the vsphere), but is blinking in my switch.
    I would like to have 2 nics in my esx ,i really apreciate any help on this.
    Thanks

    Reply
  75. *protectedchriswickersham says

    07/31/2017 at 6:12 pm

    Great stuff, thank you so much for what you're doing here. I recently upgraded my mini to 6.5 and everything is working great except I've lost my thunderbolt ethernet adapter. What would it take to make this work with the 6.5 release?

    Reply
  76. *protectedBryan says

    10/30/2017 at 2:39 pm

    Hey William! Thanks for a great resource.

    I've scanned the comments but am still not sure whether I can update to a recent build of 5.5 (ESXi-5.5.0-20170904001-standard (Build 6480324)) without breaking my Thunderbolt ethernet adapter. My backup vendor (Nakivo) is recommending we update all our ESXi 5.5 hosts to the latest build. I haven't patched ESXi since deploying 5.5.0 build 1623387 a couple of years ago with your custom ISO, then installing your custom VIB.

    Reply
    • *protectedRhinofart says

      10/30/2017 at 3:10 pm

      Hey Bryan. I have upgraded to ESXi 5.5 successfully with my MacMini and Thunderbolt connections. Wish I knew how to upload a screenshot here to show.

      Reply
      • *protectedBryan says

        10/30/2017 at 3:40 pm

        Thanks Rhinofart,

        I realize now i wasn't clear in my original post. I'm currently running 5.5, just an old build (probably U1, tho I haven't looked it up to verify.)

        On reading further, it looks like MacMini 6.2 and 6,1 (the ones I have) can both run ESXi 6.0 out of the box with full hardware support, including Thunderbolt Ethernet. Instead of simply updating to a recent build of 5.5, I'm thinking I'll try to upgrade straight to a recent build of 6.0.

        As a backup plan, I'll shut down the hosts, remove the USB flash drives ESXi is installed on, and clone the bootable USB sticks to identical (or larger) flash drives. (I use SanDisk Cruzer Fit). I'll try to boot ESXi from the cloned usb drive to make sure it works; then try to do the upgrade on the clone. If it works, yay! If it fails, I'll just swap back to the original USB drive and keep running my current 5.5 build until I decide to try again.

        Reply
  77. *protectedAmauri Barros says

    08/21/2019 at 6:35 pm

    HI William!

    I installed this thunderbolt VIB with macmini5,3 on ESXi 6.7 and continue working! Thanks a lot!

    Reply
  78. *protectedMario says

    04/09/2024 at 7:04 am

    Hi, any one may able to re-upload the iso to mega because the old link is not work.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Baby Dragon Triplets – VSAN Home Lab | vcdx133.com says:
    05/23/2014 at 10:28 am

    […] for VSAN communications, would be cool to connect a Thunderbolt NAS box. this way also. The Mac Mini builds use the Ethernet to Thunderbolt adapter to provide a second Gb Ethernet […]

    Reply
  2. Why I Have 12 Virtual Labs | DiscoPosse - Using the chicken to measure IT says:
    07/12/2014 at 3:40 pm

    […] the William Lam vSphere 5.5 Mac Mini post to build a vSphere host to use for nested virtualization (http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2013/09/running-esxi-55-on-apple-mac-mini.html). Massive thanks go to William for sharing this […]

    Reply
  3. Install ESXi 5.5 on 4GB machine (and a Mac Mini..) | Duncan Bowring says:
    11/15/2014 at 11:48 pm

    […] http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2013/09/running-esxi-55-on-apple-mac-mini.html […]

    Reply
  4. Design of my new Test Lab | 9to5IT says:
    07/26/2015 at 12:50 am

    […] The Mac Mini pretty much fits this description perfectly, and on top of that there are heaps of people that have converted them into ESXi hosts and they work perfectly (albeit that they are not supported by VMware). If you are interested in knowing how to get these working as ESXi hosts (particularly the drivers for the Thunderbolt USB NICs), then have a look at this article from Virtually Ghetto. […]

    Reply
  5. Why I Have 12 Virtual Labs – DiscoPosse.com says:
    08/06/2016 at 9:57 am

    […] the William Lam vSphere 5.5 Mac Mini post to build a vSphere host to use for nested virtualization (http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2013/09/running-esxi-55-on-apple-mac-mini.html). Massive thanks go to William for sharing this […]

    Reply

Thanks for the comment!Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Search

Thank Author

Author

William is Distinguished Platform Engineering Architect in the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Division at Broadcom. His primary focus is helping customers and partners build, run and operate a modern Private Cloud using the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform.

Connect

  • Bluesky
  • Email
  • GitHub
  • LinkedIn
  • Mastodon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo

Recent

  • VMware Flings is now available in Free Downloads of Broadcom Support Portal (BSP) 05/19/2025
  • VMUG Connect 2025 - Minimal VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.x in a Box  05/15/2025
  • Programmatically accessing the Broadcom Compatibility Guide (BCG) 05/06/2025
  • Quick Tip - Validating Broadcom Download Token  05/01/2025
  • Supported chipsets for the USB Network Native Driver for ESXi Fling 04/23/2025

Advertisment

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Copyright WilliamLam.com © 2025