<div>
That's a great write-up, thanks for sharing. I am familiar with this manual method of patching. So, I guess everyone who uses Update Manager has to patch 1 host manually?
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That's a great write-up, thanks for sharing. I am familiar with this manual method of patching. So, I guess everyone who uses Update Manager has to patch 1 host manually?

<div>
Yes, if you use Update Manager, I know more and more clients, that are now dropping off using Update Manager, and writing PowerCLI scripts, that<br />
<br />
1. Put Server into Maintenance Mode<br />
2. Upload offline bundles<br />
3. Patch Server<br />
4. Reboot Server<br />
5. Loop and goto next server<br />
<br />
and use VMware Orchestra to do this, and tie this in with their Service Management software!
</div>


Yes, if you use Update Manager, I know more and more clients, that are now dropping off using Update Manager, and writing PowerCLI scripts, that

1. Put Server into Maintenance Mode
2. Upload offline bundles
3. Patch Server
4. Reboot Server
5. Loop and goto next server

and use VMware Orchestra to do this, and tie this in with their Service Management software!

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<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
I have 3 ESXi hosts running 5.1. One of the VM's on host A is a Windows 2008 Server that is running vCenter Server with Update Manager. I am using Update Manager to patch host B and host C. <br />
<br />
How do I update/patch host A if I have to turn off all of the VM's and enter maintenance mode? My vCenter Server is now powered off. I am familiar with downloading the zip files and patching manually, but is this how I have to patch host A when I have Update Manager??<br />
<br />
Thanks for any help.
</div>
</div>


I have 3 ESXi hosts running 5.1. One of the VM's on host A is a Windows 2008 Server that is running vCenter Server with Update Manager. I am using Update Manager to patch host B and host C. 

How do I update/patch host A if I have to turn off all of the VM's and enter maintenance mode? My vCenter Server is now powered off. I am familiar with downloading the zip files and patching manually, but is this how I have to patch host A when I have Update Manager??

Thanks for any help.

VMWare patching without Update Manager

VMware, a software company founded in 1998,  was one of the first commercially successful companies to offer x86 virtualization. The storage company EMC purchased VMware in 1994. Dell Technologies acquired EMC in 2016. VMware’s parent company is now Dell Technologies.

VMware has many software products that run on desktops, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, which allows the virtualizing of the x86 architecture.  Its enterprise software hypervisor for servers, VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), is a bare-metal hypervisor that runs directly on the server hardware and does not require an additional underlying operating system.