I have pulled down the latest ISO for ESXi 6.5 – I want to have 2 x ESXi Servers, so I will document the process once and then repeat.

Select File, New Virtual Machine and select Custom

Hit Next and then Next again at the Choose the Virtual Machine Hardware Compatibility screen

Browse to your VMvisor ISO and select Next

Give your Virtual Machine a Name and pick where you want it to be provisioned – hit Next

Im giving my Host 2 x Processors with 2 Cores – hit Next

And 4GB or Memory – click Next

Im going to put my ESXi Host on Internal Networking – for any updates I will look to deploy VUM Later.  I will also be adding various Interfaces later – click Next

I will Accept the defaults for I/O Controller, Disk Type and Select a Disk Type by click Next through these options

            

Select Create a new virtual disk and click Next

I will give my ESXi Host a 40GB Drive and as I don’t have too much capacity in my Lab – I will not Allocate the space now – select Next

I will leave the defaults for Specify Disk File and click Next

I had a quick look in Customize Hardware – to see if things like Floppy Drive were added – but it looked pretty minimal so will leave at Defaults and select Finish

So my Host will be provisioned and boot into the installer

Now we are ready for configuration – hit Enter

and press F11 Accept and Continue (EULA)
* TIP for MAC Users with External Keyboards – Go to System Preferences – Keyboard – Tick Use all F1, F2 etc. keys as standard function keys

I only have the 1 Disk to install ESXi on so press Enter

Select Keyboard Layout – for me United Kingdom – Press Enter

Enter a Root password and hit Enter

And confirm Installation by pressing F11

Installation complete ready for a reboot by pressing Enter

Now for some configuration:

I need to change my Network Adapter from Host-Only to sit on my VM Network – in my case vmnet1

Press F2 to Customise and then login with your credentials

Select Customise Management Network

I only have the 1 Interface at the moment so I just need to do the IPv4 Config and Disable IPv6

First select IPv4 Configuration and press Enter

Use the Arrow keys to move down to Set static IPv4 address and network configuration

Press the Space Bar to confirm the selection

Then Enter IP, Subnet Mask and Gateway – Press Enter to confirm

Now scroll down to IPv6 Configuration

Select Disable IPv6 and hit Enter

Now select DNS Configuration and Enter the IP of your DNS Server and give your ESXi server a Hostname – Press Enter

Press Esc and confirm change by pressing Y – The Host will restart