Getting ESXi installed on a server today is more often done through the servers BMC (iLO, iDRAC, CMC, etc). But this guide might be helpful when installing vSphere on a standalone server. The tool of choice for any bootable USB is my friend Rufus.

There are three things you will need to do this:

• Download Rufus Here
• Download whatever .iSO image you want to be bootable (whether its WIndows, ESXi, or Linux).
• Use a somewhat quality USB Flash Drive (1GB or larger). For some reason, I will run into some cheap-o thumb drives that do not boot anything. If your boot drive doesn’t work, try a different flash drive

Here are the easy steps:

• Insert your blank (or soon to be formatted) flash drive into your PC
• Open Rufus
  

  

• Under Device, select the flash drive you wish to format and use
• Select MBR partition Scheme for BIOS or UEFI
• Filesystem = Fat32
• Use default Cluster Size (4096 bytes)
• Click the icon next to FreeDOS and select your ISO image
• Rename the New Volume Label to whatever you wish to see when you insert the flash drive into a PC
• Click Start

  

• When prompted to replace menu.c32, select Yes
  

  

• Finally, click Yes to the warning that this flash drive will be formatted (destroyed)

  

That’s it. It will take a couple of mins, but you should have a bootable flash drive.