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Realtek Network Driver for ESXi

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I never thought this day would ever come as I am sure this will come as a complete shock to many, but I am pleased to announce that we have just released a new VMware Fling: Realtek Network Driver for ESXi 😎

Yes, you read that right! 🤯


In fact, I have it running on my Minisforum MS-A2 which has an RTL8125 (2.5GbE), which I can now use! The RTL Driver can be installed on either ESX 8.0 Update 3+ or 9.x+

This Realtek (RTL) PCIe-based driver is NOT an official driver from Realtek, it was developed by one of our VCF Engineers, Wenchao 👏

The driver currently supports the following RTL PCIe Devices:

  • RTL8111 - 1GbE
  • RTL8125 - 2.5GbE
  • RTL8126 - 5GbE
  • RTL8127 - 10GbE

To download the Realtek Network Driver for ESXi offline bundle, head over to the Free Downloads section for Flings on the Broadcom Support Portal (BSP).

UPDATE (11/21/25) - RTL Network Driver for ESXi 1.101.01 is now available and resolves network connection drop that some folks were experiencing. If you have not installed this version, go ahead and download and follow the installation steps below. If you had installed the earlier version of the driver, you can simply upgrade without re-installing, please see the instructions below for more details.

Note: The Realtek Network Driver for ESXi provides basic network connectivity, it currently does not include hardware assisted offload like TSO, LRO WOL, etc. Limited testing was performed on an RTL8127 device and maximum of ~5.5Gbps was observed.

Install

To install the driver, run the following command and specify the full path to offline bundle zip:

esxcli software component apply -d /VMware-Re-Driver_1.101.00-5vmw.800.1.0.20613240.zip

Uninstall

To remove the driver, run the following command:

esxcli software component remove -n VMware-Re-Driver

Note: You can also incorporate the offline bundle into vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) Image and roll out and/or create an image for deployment

Upgrade

To upgrade the driver from the initial 1.101.00 version, run the following command:

esxcli software component apply -d /VMware-Re-Driver_1.101.01-5vmw.800.1.0.20613240.zip

Custom ISO

To create custom ESX ISO that contains RTL Network Driver for initial installation, you will need to download the desired ESX Offline Depot (zip) and use the following PowerCLI script, which does NOT require any existing infrastructure (vCenter, ESX, etc) to create a custom ISO image.

# ESXi Offline Depot
$ESXIBaseImagePath = "VMware-ESXi-9.0.1.0.24957456-depot.zip"

# List of ESXi Offline Bundle Drivers
$ESXIDriverPaths = @("VMware-Re-Driver_1.101.01-5vmw.800.1.0.20613240.zip")

$ESXICustomIsoSpec = "esx-9.0.1.0-realtek.spec"
$ESXICustomIsoPath = "esx-9.0.1.0-realtek.iso"

##### DO NOT EDIT BEYOND HERE #####

if((Get-PowerCLIVersion).Major -lt "9") {
    Write-Error "This script requires VCF.PowerCLI 9.x or greater`n"
    exit
}

Write-Host -Foreground cyan "Processing ESXi Base Image $ESXIDriver ..."
$ESXIBaseImageVersion = (Get-DepotBaseImages -Depot $ESXIBaseImagePath).Version

# Build list of Components from ESXi Drivers
$components = @{}
foreach ($ESXIDriver in $ESXIDriverPaths) {
    Write-Host -Foreground cyan "Processing ESXi Driver $ESXIDriver ..."
    $component = (Get-DepotComponents -Depot $ESXIDriver) | Select Name, Version
    $components.Add(${component}.name,${component}.version)
}

# Create Software Spec
$spec = [ordered] @{
    base_image = @{
        version = $ESXIBaseImageVersion
    }
    components = $components
}
$spec | ConvertTo-Json | Set-Content -NoNewline -Path $ESXICustomIsoSpec

# Build Depo List
$ESXIDepots = '"' + $(($ESXIDriverPaths+=$ESXIBaseImagePath) -join '","') + '"'
$ESXICustomIsoSpec = '"' + $ESXICustomIsoSpec + '"'
$ESXICustomIsoPath = '"' + $ESXICustomIsoPath + '"'

# Create New Custom ISO
Write-Host -Foreground green "`nCreating Custom ESXi ISO and saving to ${ESXICustomIsoPath} ...`n"
Invoke-Expression "New-IsoImage -Depots $ESXIDepots -SoftwareSpec $ESXICustomIsoSpec -Destination $ESXICustomIsoPath"

To enable Jumbo Frames, you will not be able to configure that on vSwitch but rather as module parameter for the RTL driver. Run the following command to set MTU to 9000:

esxcli system module parameters set -m if_re -p mtu=9000
reboot

With this new development, I suspect many more lab environments will now have the ability to deploy VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, and I’m excited to see which new platforms our community will be using!

Feel free to share your experiences using the driver and if you have any feedback, feel free to leave a comment and I will make sure it reaches Wenchao.

Comments

  2. Nice! That completely changes the Homelab market, as there are a lot of powerfull and cheap Ryzen mini PCs, but with "wrong" NICs...

    Reply

    • Hello exactly.
      Great news.
      Just a question, did you test a vmotion with big VM or import a new iso to LCM with success ? And what is your RTL network ?
      Thank you

      Reply

    • Hi William,
      Anybody tried Realtek/RTL8159 10Gbe USB-C Ethernet Adapter USB3.2 Type-C 10 Gigabit with Intel nuc 10 TB port with vsphere7/8/9?

      Reply

  5. THIS IS GREAT!
    I had thought about so many times really 1000 kudos to Wenchao from me but I think also from all the community!

    Reply

  6. as Droppy, I'm Happy 🙂
    It's ok with Realtek 8111, it works, but after a short time, I lost ESXi connection, no more ping.
    This happened on 3 (out of 4) of my ESX servers.
    Anyway, status is UP for vmnicX.
    If I reboot my network switch, connection come back to UP.
    I will test with last 3g version (actually 3c).

    Reply

    • Finally, I'm not so Happy 🙁
      Not try with 3g for now, this seems disconnect when we have a strong network activity.
      Someone can try to import (via LCM - Imported ISOs) a simple ESXi ISO, and see if ESXi where vCenter is runnig is ok ?

      EDIT : a simple shut/noshut for port interface is OK to re-UP the port, no need to reboot.

      Anyway, unusable for me, I will see with 3g later if ok.

      Reply

      • Snifff...
        Upgrade with 3g, same error.
        Re-install from scratch with a new custom iso with realtek and usb flings, same error.
        A simple vmotion (need windows vm, some little linux can pass), and no more connexion, need to shut/no shut switch port.
        Am I the only one ?
        Really sad 🙁

        Reply

        • I'm having the same issue with a Realtek 8111 in an Optiplex 3050. Works for a while, then just stops until you shut/noshut the port.
          Scratch built 8.0.3g with realtek driver injected into the ISO.

          I was very excited until I ran into this issue and saw your reply. Would love to work with anyone to be able to troubleshoot this.

          Reply

  7. Very interesting.
    Have you also considered a driver for virtio? It would allow homelabs like KVM or Proxmox to virtualize ESXi (nested) with virtio drivers.

    Reply

  8. I'm experiencing the same issue that David is having:

    Package: VMware-ESXi-8.0U3g-24859861-depot generated target iso
    Driver: Realtek-Network-Driver-for-ESXi-1.101.00 vmw_bootbank_if-re_1.101.00-5vmw.800.1.0.20613240.vib
    Network card: Realtek r8168/8111 integrated network card
    Steps to reproduce 100%: After installing ESXi, when using SSH to upload large files (over 1GB), the connection disconnects immediately in less than 3 seconds.

    Reply

      • Hello, I'm very sorry for the delayed response. I haven't had access to a suitable testing environment recently. My previous test environment has already been deployed with PVE and the data has been migrated, so I'm temporarily unable to test this new driver. Thank you very much for your continuous efforts and attention to this issue.

        I have noticed that some users have provided feedback indicating that it works, which clearly shows that your efforts have been effective. Thank you again for your hard work and dedication.

        Reply

  9. Hello,
    I tried with last debug driver the following action : vmotion big VM, imported iso, or copy big files via scp to esxi (all usecase break the connections).
    And ... YES 🙂 all seems goods now.
    And you know what ... I'm happy !
    At least, a full driver Realtek functional.
    A very very very big thanks to Wenchao and William, long time I waiting for that.
    Again thank you, last drivers is working very well for me.

    Reply

  10. I was hoping the vExpert gift we got a few years back would finally work. It's the Maxtang NUC and it says its got a RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller. I tried it but it didn't work for me 🙁

    Reply

  14. Hi William,
    Anybody successful with Realtek/RTL8159 10Gbe USB-C Ethernet Adapter USB3.2 Type-C 10 Gigabit with Intel nuc 10 TB port with vsphere7/8?

    Reply

  15. We've just published version 1.101.01 of the driver, which resolves the issues that were reported earlier. Thanks to everyone who helped with the validation, you can upgrade w/o re-installing (see updated blog post for instructions)

    Reply

  16. Is it possible to load this driver during the install? I only have one NIC (Realtek) and it's not letting me complete the install. I have access to the CLI via ALT+F1.

    Reply

  19. Thanks for your help on this. After a lot of messing around with Python version compatibility issues I finally got your script to run and the ISO worked perfectly. Thank you so much.

    Reply

  20. Thanks for the info but for us it's already too late. We migrated all servers to Incus. For the VMs this was some work due to the uefi boot requirement and driver install but finally we are happy to now have a faster infrastructure which is open and has a very flexible zfs storage backend. Most linux based systems have been also migrated to system containers and run now much faster / with a smaller footprint without virtualization. Only one customer still runs on VMWare and we are wondering if it's worth to give esxi 8 a try with an uncertain future.

    Reply

  21. Hi, is it possible to have the url to directly download the iso of esxi that already contain the driver ?

    Reply

  22. Thank you for providing such a great driver.
    I created an ISO containing the driver and installed it on my Lenovo M75-q2. It worked without any problems.
    This is just a test environment so I haven't used it at full power, but so far there have been no problems.

    Reply

  23. I just purchased a GMKTek NUK K11. I had thought it had the Intel Networking, but it has the Realtek. My mistake.

    The good news is I have been able to create an ISO and boot with with a esxi8.ps1 that I pulled from GitHub and modified to add the Realtek driver.

    I got ESX8 installed and running on the K11, though to my surprise I am in evaluation mode for 30 days. I thought it would have the perm free license...

    Is this due to the version that the PowerShell commands download and build the ISO from? I see it downloads VMWare-ESXI-8.0U3g-248561-depot.zip, then adds the driver and builds the ISO.

    My first pass at this, that failed due to the driver not being there, was to download the "VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso" from the Broadcom site under the VMWare HyperVisor section, which I think would have worked, if it had the driver.

    Is there a way to build or add the drivers to the non-commercial version, or update the script to pull the "free" version to build my ISO with PowerShell?

    Another option I tried was to Try and install with a USB NIC (with the VMVisor-Installer), it got past the initial failure point about not finding a NIC, but got an exception (something about the networking).

    Looking for more things to try.

    Reply

  24. Thanks a mil.
    This saved mine, and I am sure a hundreds of HomeLab projects!
    In my case I have made RTL8111H working on ESXi 8.0.3 (VMware-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64)

    Reply

  25. Hi everyone! Maybe someone could share the finished ISO file? Thanks in advance.

    Reply

  26. Hi, I created an installation image using your script (the ESXi version was VMware-ESXi-8.0U3g-24859861-depot.zip). However, when I try to update ESXi from this image, I get the error "<MISSING_GUNZIP_CHECKSUM_VIB_ERRORS" and the update cannot continue.

    Reply

  29. buenas,

    Hace un par de semanas tube que intalar el vib, luego dije voy a desintalar por linea de comandos ya no me sale como instalado, en cambio por la interface de grafica de esxi si que se ve drivers instalado, no se si es un bug la hora de desintalar no se desintala de todo mi realtek es RTL8125.
    302 / 5.000
    Hello,

    A couple of weeks ago I had to install VIB, then I tried to uninstall it via the command line, but it no longer shows as installed. However, the ESXi graphical interface does show the drivers as installed. I don't know if it's a bug, but when I try to uninstall, it doesn't completely uninstall. My Realtek driver is an RTL8125.
    Enviar comentarios
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    Reply

  30. I have just downloaded and realised that I need a windows machine as macOS or linux with Powershell installed is the wrong version of Powershell to create a exsi 8 & 9 iso with the Realtek drivers, I don't supposed their are some prebuilt ones ?

    Reply

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