Can I upgrade from 6.5 to 7.0.1 directly?

If you have the ISO, you should be able to upgrade directly.

But if it's not able to, it will tell you.

I downloaded the ISO but getting several dependency errors:

Message: EsxCLI.CLIFault.summary;
InnerText:  [DependencyError] VIB HPE_bootbank_scsi-hpvsa_5.5.0.102-1OEM.550.0.0.1331820 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.2.0, but the
requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile. VIB HPE_bootbank_scsi-hpdsa_5.5.0.54-1OEM.550.0.0.1331820 requires
com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.2.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile. VIB
QLogic_bootbank_scsi-bfa_3.2.6.0-1OEM.550.0.0.1331820 requires vmkapi_2_2_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
VIB HPE_bootbank_scsi-hpvsa_5.5.0.102-1OEM.550.0.0.1331820 requires vmkapi_2_2_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the
ImageProfile. VIB HPE_bootbank_scsi-hpdsa_5.5.0.54-1OEM.550.0.0.1331820 requires vmkapi_2_2_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within
the ImageProfile. VIB HPE_bootbank_oem-build_650.U3.9.6.10-4240417 requires esx-version << 6.7.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied
within the ImageProfile. VIB QLogic_bootbank_scsi-bfa_3.2.6.0-1OEM.550.0.0.1331820 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.2.0, but the requirement
cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile. VIB HPE_bootbank_hpe-nmi_600.2.4.16-2494575 requires vmkapi_2_3_0_0, but the requirement cannot be
satisfied within the ImageProfile. Please refer to the log file for more details.EsxCLI.CLIFault.summary
At line:155 char:5
+     $esxcli.software.profile.update.Invoke($argsInstall) }
+     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (:) [], MethodFault
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : VMware.VimAutomation.Sdk.Types.V1.ErrorHandling.VimException.MethodFault

BOOT the ISO/CD-ROM and upgrade!

You made no REFERENCES to in-place upgrade using esxcli or powercli !

As you can see - Not using esxcli or powercli, and also depends very much on which build of 6.5. You may also need the depot version not the ISO.

Difficult to tell without knowing exactly which file you've downloaded!

Which build of 7.x do you want to go to, and why 7.0.1 and not the latest?

Is this installation on SD/USB flash drive ?

Sorry for the lack of information previous provided.  I am on 6.5 build 17167537.  The company standard is 7.0.1 at this time.  I downloaded the 7.0 u1d depot.  Yes - I am using ESXCLI within PowerShell

is that 7.0.1 (Build 17551050) ?

Are you currently installed on SD or USB flash drive ?

I downloaded the 7.0 u1d depot.

if the online depot doesn't work then just boot the custom ISO (output suggests the server is HPE?)

https://customerconnect.vmware.com/downloads/details?downloadGroup=OEM-ESXI70U1-HPE&productId=974

Thank you.

np