ESXi 7.0: Add Community NIC Drivers

Use VMware PowerCLI to add community on-board NIC and USB NIC drivers into the official ESXi 7.0+ installer.

Install VMware PowerCLI

• Download the PowerCLI offline bundle (includes dependencies)
• Extract to C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules
• In that folder, Shift + right click and open PowerShell
• Run this to unblock files:

Get-ChildItem * -Recurse | Unblock-File

• Run PowerShell as Administrator, then:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

• Verify install:

Import-Module VMware.ImageBuilder

If there is no error, PowerCLI is installed.

ESXi and PowerCLI are updated often. During ISO building, their versions must match. You can find the latest PowerCLI offline bundle here: PowerCLI installation guide.

Download ESXi and community drivers

• Register a VMware account
• Go to the product downloads page
• Find VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) and click Download Trial
• Download VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) Offline Bundle (not the ISO)
• Download Community Networking Driver for ESXi
• Download USB Network Native Driver for ESXi
• Put all files in the same folder

Build the ISO

• Open PowerShell in the folder with the downloads
• Run the following. Replace filenames to match your downloads:

Add-EsxSoftwareDepot .\VMware-ESXi-7.0U3c-19193900-depot.zip
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot .\Net-Community-Driver_1.2.7.0-1vmw.700.1.0.15843807_19480755.zip
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot .\ESXi703-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-51233328-component-18902399.zip

• Find the base profile:

Get-EsxImageProfile

• Copy the profile that includes standard, e.g. ESXi-7.0U3c-19193900-standard
• Create a custom profile (replace the profile name):

New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile "ESXi-7.0U3c-19193900-standard" -name "ESXi-7.0U3c-19193900-bigppwong" -Vendor "bigppwong.github.io"

• Add the community driver package:

Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile "ESXi-7.0U3c-19193900-bigppwong" -SoftwarePackage "net-community"

• Export the ISO:

Export-ESXImageProfile -ImageProfile "ESXi-7.0U3c-19193900-bigppwong" -ExportToISO -filepath ESXi-7.0U3c-19193900-bigppwong.iso

To delete a profile, use Remove-EsxImageProfile.