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Installing Realtek Network Driver Fling using Free ESXi 8.0 Update 3e ISO

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The typical method for authoring a customized ESXi image that contains additional drivers and packages is by either using vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) if you already have a vCenter Server deployed or by using PowerCLI cmdlets which does not depend on vCenter Server to to create a new image.

In the latter option of using PowerCLI, users must provide a reference to the ESXi base image which can be be provided by using Broadcom's Online Depot (requires Broadcom Download Token) or served using a local ESXi offline bundle zip file.

As some of you may have observed over the years, not every single ESXi release (typically patch/updates) will include both an ISO and offline bundle deliverable. If you have an existing vCenter Server, you can download ANY ESXi release in either ISO and/or offline bundle format using vLCM.

What if you only had access to an ESXi ISO, can you still take advantage of some of the custom drivers including the recently released Realtek Network Driver for ESXi Fling?

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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 (02/05/26) - If you are using the Free ESXi 8.0 Update 3e ISO and would like to incorporate the Realtek Network Driver for ESXi, please see this blog post for the instructions.

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.

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Updated Nested ESXi 8.x & 9.0 Virtual Appliance

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Happy Sunday! Before the wave of announcements starts rolling out from VMware Explore Las Vegas, which starts tomorrow, I wanted to share a quick update. 😅

I have been pretty swamped for the past couple of months, so it has taken a bit more time to get the latest Nested ESXi Virtual Appliances published, but here are the latest 8.0 Update 3 and 9.0 versions. I have included the direct links to the download but also the intermediate Broadcom Support Portal (BSP) links for those interested in bookmarking these pages.

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