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Quick Tip - Accessing new custom theme editor for ESXi 8.0 Host Client

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While looking over the vSphere 8 release notes, I had noticed there was also release notes for new version of the ESXi Embedded Host Client, which is an HTML 5 UI for accessing standalone ESXi host. The really interesting feature that stood out to me was the following:

Ability to change the user interface theme

Initially, I thought this was referring to the new "gray" theme which is the default when logging in.


I thought it was a bit strange to refer to this as being able to change user interface. What I did not realize was that the theme editor for the ESXi Host Client was actually hiding else where in the UI ... Thanks to Mark Gabbs for sharing the details!

UPDATE (10/12/22) - After publishing this blog post, I noticed a more detailed article was posted on the VMware Blog regarding the new ESXi Host Client 2, which includes even more new features such as markdown support for customizing the ESXi DCUI and Host Client login window.

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Automated vSphere & vSAN 8 Lab Deployment Script

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Continuing with the tradition of a new vSphere release, I have also released an update to my Nested ESXi Virtual Appliance to support the latest vSphere 8 release.

I know many of you are excited to get hands on experience with vSphere 8 and start exploring some of the new features and capabilities. To make it even easier to deploy, I have created an updated version of my vSphere and vSAN Lab Deployment script which you can find on my Github repo: Automated vSphere & vSAN 8 Lab Deployment Github Repo

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vSphere 8 on Apple Mac Hardware

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While vSphere 7.x is the last vSphere release to officially support Apple MacOS Virtualization running on ESXi, my own curiosity got the best of me and I was just curious if ESXi 8.0 could still run on recent Apple Mac Hardware ...

Disclaimer: VMware does NOT officially support running ESXi 8.0 on Apple Hardware nor Apple MacOS Virtualization using vSphere 8, this is purely for educational and informational purposes. Please use at your own risk.

Attempting to boot the ESXi 8.0 installer on an Apple Mac Mini 8,1 (2018) will halt the installer and result in the following exception.


UPDATE (07/26/23) - ESXi 8.0 Update 1a installs fine on an Apple Mac Mini 5,3 (2011), but you will need to ensure you have Apple Thunderbolt 2 network adapter as ESXi no longer supports the onboard adapter. You also will need to append an additional ESXi boot option (SHIFT+O) allowLegacyCPU=true to by pass the CPU check.

UPDATE (10/11/22) - Thanks to user psm (MacAdmins Slack Group) for sharing ESXi 8.0 works on Apple Mac Mini 7,1 (2014)✅ and reader Jon (left comment) that ESXi 8.0 works on Apple Mac Pro 7,1 (2019)✅

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