install esxi free on desktop PC?

If it sees the storage I would say yes, there's a good chance it will work.

Thanks! Will I see that during install? (i.e. will I be able to tell if it will probably work before making changes to system?)

So you don't think RAM/CPU/Motherboard are much of a concern?  It's mostly just if it can see the storage?


BTW - I understand what esxi is... :-) I've spent the last month configuring esxi on a dell 730xd :-)  (also set up vcenter)  

That's all in a supported business environment.... but it got me curious about re-purposing my old desktop as an ESXI server.... just what to see if it will likely work...  I already have my old PC as a keyboardless/monitorless machine just accessed remotely from time to time.

You would install ESXi to a USB stick or SD card. That way the installation won't change anything within the system. Only after you have booted from that installed versions and you setup your datastore will any changes be written to the PC's disk.

Forgot about the network adapter (and shouldn't it caused me a nightmare just over a year ago - Hyper-V is SO MUCH EASIER since you can actually load drivers!)

Yes, I'm NOT a VMWare fan.

@Lee W, MVP

Yes, I'm NOT a VMWare fan.

Not everyone is perfect!

You can load drivers and compile drivers for ESXi, if there not in the build of HCL, it's just not for Beginners, and covered in my Expert 'Geek' Course!

Make sure Intel-VT is enabled in the BIOS and CPU.

Are these separate things?  I.e. if enabled in bios do I need to further enable in CPU?
Looking at my system does it seem modern enough that it will almost definitely have this feature?  

install VMware Player or VMware Workstation, and install ESXi in a VM.

Running esxi in a VM.... never thought of that... somehow I'm reminded of Inception..... :-)

Do player/workstation have free versions?  And so this is something I would run on windows and then have my ESXI server in there and then run VM's in there.... With so many layers of abstraction do you lose a lot of performance or surprisingly little?  

I might just upgrade windows to pro to get hyper-v.... how does hyper-v perform?  Is it pretty decent if the windows PC is not being actively used?

Are these separate things?  I.e. if enabled in bios do I need to further enable in CPU?
Looking at my system does it seem modern enough that it will almost definitely have this feature?  

Just check your CPU supports Intel-VT, and ensure it's enabled in the BIOS. Nothing to do with CPU per se.

i7 supports Intel-VT, you may need to enable in BIOS.

Do player/workstation have free versions?  And so this is something I would run on windows and then have my ESXI server in there and then run VM's in there.... With so many layers of abstraction do you lose a lot of performance or surprisingly little?  

VMware Workstation is a paid for software product, 60 day evaluations available.

VMware Player is FREE for non-commercial use.

You do lose some performance, but an Intel i7 3.4GHz has lots of grunt.

But, this keeps the VMs, the same, no conversion required, just upload them from datastore to datastore.

Hyper-V is a Type 1 Hypervisor, so will perform better on the bare metal.

But, conversion would be required between ESXi --> Hyper V, and Hyper-V to ESXi.