Create a Bootable VMware ESXi 8 USB Installer on macOS | Complete Guide

🚀 Creating a Bootable VMware ESXi 8 USB Installer on macOS (Without Rufus)

If you’re using macOS and need to install VMware ESXi 8, you don’t need any third-party tools. Using native macOS utilities like diskutil, fdisk, and hdiutil, you can create a fully bootable ESXi USB installer in just a few steps.

Key steps:
✅ Identify your USB drive with diskutil list
✅ Format it as FAT32 + MBR
✅ Mark the partition as active with fdisk
✅ Mount the ESXi ISO using hdiutil
✅ Copy all installation files to the USB drive
✅ Rename ISOLINUX.CFG to SYSLINUX.CFG
✅ Update the boot configuration:

APPEND -c boot.cfg -p 1

Useful commands:

diskutil list

diskutil eraseDisk MS-DOS ESXI MBRFormat /dev/disk4

diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk4

sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk4

Inside fdisk:

f 1

write

quit

Mount the ISO:

hdiutil attach ~/Downloads/<your_ESXi.iso>

Copy files:

cp -av "/Volumes/<your_ESXi.iso>-STANDARD-CU/." "/Volumes/ESXI8/"

Rename and edit:

mv /Volumes/ESXI8/ISOLINUX.CFG /Volumes/ESXI8/SYSLINUX.CFG

Final configuration:

Open the SYSLINUX.CFG file, find the following line:

APPEND -c boot.cfg

Replace it with:

APPEND -c boot.cfg -p 1

This method works well for creating installation media for enterprise servers such as the Dell PowerEdge and other systems supporting UEFI boot.

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How to Create a Bootable VMware ESXi 8 USB Installer on macOS (No Rufus Required)

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