I am a noob here, please forgive my noob question! I have downloaded ESXI for my Poweredge, do I need a license?

Hello, thanks for choosing Dell. I'm afraid I have no idea what EDSI is, could you please tell?

Hello,

Sorry I spelt it wrong in the body of the message, is should be ESXI, it is the vmWare hypervisor. 

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-ca/product-support/product/vmware-esxi-6.x/drivers

here is a link to it on the dell.com.

thanks tom 

Hello, 

You can check here "How to Register and Activate VMware OEM Product Licenses using the Digital Download Locker" https://dell.to/3IICj9X

Also, you can review this article https://dell.to/3s1Lbl6

"License evaluation
VMware allows a 60-day free evaluation period for all enterprise-level features of vSphere 6.0. At the end of the evaluation period, your ESXi hypervisor may stop managing all virtual machines in the inventory. To continue managing the virtual machines, upgrade the evaluation license to the vSphere Essentials Plus, Standard, Enterprise, or the Enterprise Plus edition license that you purchased."

"vSphere licensing
If you order any vSphere license (Essentials Plus, Standard, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, Virtual SAN, or vCenter Server) with your server, the license certificate is shipped on a media with the server. To use the software and receive the subscription services, register, and exchange the Partner Activation Code (PAC) printed on the license certificate for a license key or license activation code. The registration must be completed within 30 days from the date of product purchase. With registration of the licensing or use of the ESXi hypervisor, you are agreeing to the VMware ESXi and/or VMware vCenter Server End User License Agreement (EULA) posted at https://dell.to/33jHNYt.

For information about product features and licensing methods, go to https://dell.to/3DRzHDh."

I am in exactly the same situation. I bought the Dell R720 on Amazon, it came with no OS on the drives, which is expected. I want to install the esxi free version, which I have downloaded and created a bootable USB drive with.

My issue is, I cannot get the server to boot from the USB port on the front. It *sees* the drive since it lights up when it is plugged in and it goes through its boot cycle, but it never tries to boot. I have updated the BIOS to set the USB as the first device in the boot order, but nothing.

I have tried this with both the Ubuntu boot drive that I have used elsewhere fine and get the same result, so I know it is not a problem with the drive, it is a problem with the device trying to boot from the drive.

Does anyone know how to get the 720 to boot from the front USB port?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Rich

Hello Vizabli

If you press F11 on POST do you have the option to select the USB drive?

Check the System BIOS see if Boot mode and see if it is correct for your use.

Other things to check:

Try the Rear ports

Try an 8G or less USB

Reseat the front control panel cables at the control panel side and system board side.

Run the system diagnostics to check for any issues:

Boot to  F11 on Dell Splash screen, selecting  Boot Manager -> System Utilities -> Launch Dell Diagnostics.  Note any messages and continue testing.