Thanks to Patrik Kernstock, who works in our Technical Support organization at VMware, for making me aware of an issue related to Nested ESXi running on an ESXi host that has been upgraded to ESXi 7.0. Several folks in the community have noticed after upgrading their Intel NUC 7th Gen and deploying a Nested ESXi VM and powering on an inner-guestOS would causes the Nested ESXi VM to crash.
Upon further investigation, it looks like this is not specific to the Intel NUC platform but rather with a specific generation of CPUs which are Intel Sky Lake-based and as a result, some customers are noticing this affect on their 7th Gen NUC.
UPDATE (06/23/20) - ESXi 7.0b has just been released and contains the fix for the Nested ESXi VM crash. If you are using an Intel NUC 10, do not just apply the patch as the updated ne1000 VIB within the patch will override existing Intel NIC driver causing the network adapter to no longer function. It is recommended that you download the patch and replace the default ne1000 VIB using Image Builder with the Intel NIC version before applying the update. To download the patch, please visit VMware Patch Portal site.
The good news is that this issue has already been reported and we should have a fix in a future update of ESXi. In the meantime, you can still run Nested ESXi and Nested Virtualization on these affected CPUs, you just will not be able to power on inner-guest VMs. Big thanks to Patrik for helping out with the testing and triaging this internally.
> you can still run Nested ESXi and Nested Virtualization on these affected CPUs, you just will not be able to power on inner-guest VMs.
So you can't do anything when you have nested ESXi? 😂
There's actually a large majority of folks that don't actually need to power on guests within the ESXi VM. They use it test and validated vSphere API/Automation before applying that code to physical infrastructure.
Exactly William, best way to test before going into produktion with any script.
I have 8th Gen NUC's, NUC8I7HVK's, and this is happening on this generation as well.
Edit - Those are Kaby Lake CPU's that I have, now that I read your link further, just different NUC Gen.
I have the same problem with Intel NUC NUC8i7BEH Let's hope that the update will come quickly. An environment where no VM can run does not make much sense 😉
This is happening to me on a brand new NUC 10! Maybe downgrading the base host ESXi back to 6.7 I can still run ESXi 7.0 Nested hosts? Will that work around the issue?
Did this work for you on 6.7? Same over here with NUC10 on 7?
I'm running Nested 7.0 on 6.7U3, and nested VMs on nested ESXi 7.0 without any issue.
My CPU is old E5-2667 v2.
I just rebuilt everything on latest 6.7 on it works fine - must be some sort of CPU gremlin in the code *shrug*
Seeing this on 6th-Gen NUC6i5SYH as well.
It happens also on 6th generation NUC, if you power on a VM the nested ESXi powers off ...
I am seeing this on nuc8i7hvk. I have a nuc10 as well but haven’t tested on that yet.
I have a NUC NUC10i7FNH and my eve-ng crashes using esxi 7.0 when i try to ran nexus os. looks like ihave to reinstall 6.7 to test it again.
Thanks for this post. I'm observing the same issue. Do you know if we have a fix/workaround yet?
There's no workaround currently but this will be resolved in a future update
I faced same issue with NUC10i7FNH , nested ESXi hungs ... as well as EVE-NG too...
Hi I just got a NUC10i5, nested ESXi crashes exactly the same way. has there been no fix yet since NUC7 to NOC10 ? No real value of running a nested Lab if we cant power on the guest OS.
Same on my new barebone "Hunsn BM14" with 10170U proc ... 🙁 🙁 🙁
FYI - ESXi 7.0b (Patch 01) has just GA'ed https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/rn/esxi70b.html and it contains the fix for the Nested ESXi Crash
Hi William, I was so exited about the fix. So I just patched the Intel NUC to ESXi 7.0b (Patch 01) and Unfortunately it took off the network drivers which I had to install as a custom build.
No Compatible Network adapter found. Please consult the products's Hardware Compatibility Guide ( HCG ) for a list of supported adapters.
I try a answer 🙂
if you use intel nuc with ne1000 drivers here :
https://download3.vmware.com/software/vmw-tools/ESXi670-NE1000-32543355-offline_bundle-15486963.zip
ne1000.vib is update by the patch, so you have to re-install drivers for your network card
nested vm is now working with the new patches
Hello
I confirm, I just try patch and now I can launch VM with nested ESXi 🙂
esxcli software vib update -d /vmfs/volumes/Local_DataStore/VMware-ESXi-7.0b-16324942-depot.zip
Hi David,
Did you had to install NE1000 drivers after updating the patch. I cant find the ISO for 7.0b yet on VMware website I was thinking of doing a new custom build with the new patch with NE1000. Please advice or share the iso if you got it.
Thanks
Hello
I don't use NE1000 drivers with my lab, so I don't need custom iso.
My homelab has only usb nic (3) with flings drivers, must to do lot of trick because esxi7 doesn't want install if you have only usb nic, but it's possible, not easy but possible.
just a idea for you...
One thing you can do, maybe make a custom iso 7.0 with fling usb drivers, update your system with this custom iso, add usb network (so the system will boot), just for transfer ne1000 and install ?
After you can re-update your esxi 7.0 to 7.0b, the fling drivers will stay, and for any other update, you will have a backup solution with your usb nic ?
Hello all,
can anybody confirm that Ryzen 4750G will work with ESXi 7 ?
Thanks
Maros