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HOW TO: Update VMware ESXi 7.0U2 to ESXi 7.0U2a in 5 easy steps

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Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)
EE Fellow, MVE, Expert of the Year 2021,2017-11, Scribe 2016-2012, Author of the Year 2018-6,2013-2012 VMware vExpert Pro, vExpert 2022-2011
This video will show you how to update ESXi 7.0U2 to ESXi 7.0U2a in 5 easy steps to get your system up to the latest release. In this tutorial, the version of ESXi 7.0 installed is ESXi 7.0U2, released on 20 April 2021, but this article can be followed to upgrade any version of ESXi 7.0. If your ESXi host has access to the internet, there is a quicker method shown in this video - HOW TO: Update VMware ESXi 7.0U2 to ESXi 7.0U2a direct from VMware.
VMware has removed my older legacy processors (CPUs) from ESXi 7.0U2, and also storage and network controllers, please check the VMware Hardware Compatability Lists (HCL) here.

for more additional guidance and a step by step tutorial with screenshots, which supports this video, please see the following article which this video is based on HOW TO: Update VMware ESXi 7.0U2 to ESXi 7.0U2a in 5 easy steps

It is important to note in this video when I discuss the use of USB flash drives and SD cards for installations of ESXi 7.0 the word "not-supported" should be replaced with "not recommended"!

It is not recommended to install ESXi 7.0 on USB or SD cards, because of higher write I/O, and the SD cards are currently suffering because they are not higher endurance. Problems have been found in the wild.

It is technically still supported, eventually, this may filter down through the server vendors.

Some additional information regarding the use of USB and SD cards with VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 (ESXi 7.0), and installations.

Installing ESXi on a supported USB flash drive or SD flash card (2004784)

vSphere 7 – ESXi System Storage Changes

VMware vSphere 7.x on Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers Getting Started Guide

Virtual SAN Considerations When Booting from a Flash Device

VMFS-L Locker partition corruption on SD cards in ESXi 7.0 (83376)

Video Steps

1. Download ESXi 7.0U2a Offline Bundle

Download the offline bundle from VMware.

2. Upload the offline bundle to an ESXi 7.0 datastore

Using WinSCP upload the offline bundle to the VMFS datastore.

3. Connect to the ESXi 7.0 host server via SSH

Using PuTTY connect to the ESXi host server.

4. Use esxcli at the console command line to update the server

Type the following commands in the shell.

vmware -l

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esxcli system maintenanceMode set -e true

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esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-7.0U2a-17867351-standard -d /vmfs/volumes/esxi007_local1_vmfs/isos/VMware-ESXi-7.0U2a-17867351-depot.zip

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reboot

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5. Check the ESXi 7.0U2 Host server has been updated.

Check the server boot, and check the ESXi host server has been updated.
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Author:Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)
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