Upgrade your VMware ESXi 6.0 to Update 1a the easy way

If you're on ESXi 6.0, you'll likely want to use this latest version, since it resolves the potentially serious NETDEV WATCHDOG issue KB 2124669 that could cause your hypervisor to hang. See also the release notes.

If you don't have a commercial VMware license, and instead are using a trial, free, or EVALExperience ESXi 6.0 or ESXi 6.0 Update 1, you won't be able to easily download the 6.0 Update 1a ISO directly. You're not entitled. Silly, I know. Worry not though, since this article has you covered. Takes about 10 minutes total. Basically you paste two commands, wait for the automated download and patch process, then finish up with a host reboot.

If you still really just want the 6.0 U1a ISO, see the new method I described earlier today here.

It took a bit a sluething to figure out that profile ESXi-6.0.0-20151004001-standard is actually build 3073146 is actually ESXi 6.0 Update 1a, which is like installing from VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.0.0.update01-3073146.x86_64.iso. Once I had the correlation, the command syntax was easily figured out, thanks to prior work by Andreas Peetz and William Lam!

These steps have been tested, and work great in my home lab. Before you begin, you'll need to carefully review William Lam's warning:

Disclaimer: This method assumes you can install the default ESXi Image Profile with no additional drivers or packages, else you may have connectivity issue after the upgrade. If you still need to customize the ESXi Image Profile before installation, you will still need to use something like Image Builder and then upload that to your online depot.

...and Andreas Peetz warning:

Important note: Before doing this please check whether you rely on one of the NIC drivers (e.g. Realtek) that were blacklisted in ESXi 6.0. You then need to carry out an additional step before doing the upgrade - see my earlier post (section 2) for details.

For my SuperServer Workstation, I didn't have to worry about VIBs: the stock drivers built into 6.0 are all I need to succeed. Even if I do need AHCI or NVMe VIBs in the future, I can just re-add such VIBs after similar future upgrades.

Download and apply the 6.0 Update 1a patch directly from the VMware Online Depot

1. Open an SSH session (PuTTY) to your ESXi 6.0 (or ESXi 6.0 Update 1) server
   (if you forgot to enable SSH, here's how)
2. Put your system into maintenance mode, or ensure you've set your ESXi host to automatically gracefully shutdown all VMs upon host reboot
3. Paste the following 2 commands (cut-and-paste one line at a time):

   esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient
   esxcli software profile update -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml -p ESXi-6.0.0-20151004001-standard

4. Type "reboot" and hit return

That's it! When the reboot is complete, you'll see for yourself that you now have the latest ESXi, Build 3073146, as pictured at the very top of this article. Now you have more spare time to read more TinkerTry articles!

By the way, you could use VMware Update Manager on a Windows system or VM, but for one-off upgrades typical in a small home lab, pasting these 2 lines of code is pretty easy.

See also at TinkerTry

• Download/Install VMware ESXi 6.0 U1a and vSphere 6.0 Update 1
  Oct 20 2015

• VMware vSphere 6.0 is now generally available, here’s how to download it fast
  Mar 12 2015

• VMTN reincarnated! EVALExperience is to VMware Professionals what MSDN/TechNet is to Microsoft Professionals.
  Jan 15 2015

• Problems downloading VMware vSphere VMware vCenter Server 5.5 Update 1c Appliance
  Aug 04 2014
  More info for those who get the dreaded:

  You either are not entitled or do not have permissions to download this product.
  Check with your My VMware Super User, Procurement Contact or Administrator.

See also

• ESXi 6.0 Update 1a Released
  Oct 06 2015 by David Stamen at davidstamen.com

• vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 6.0 Update 1 Rundown
  Sep 14 2015 by Emad Younis at Emad Younis Blog

  VCSA 6.0 was minus an old friend, the VAMI. VCSA 6.0 U1 the VAMI has returned! (applause). Not only is it back, but a with a new look in HTML5.

• How to upgrade from VCSA 5.x & 6.x to VCSA 6.0 Update 1?
  Sep 11 2015 by William Lam at virtuallyGhetto

• ESXi 6.0 hits the VMware Online Depot - What does that mean?
  Apr 17 2015 by Andreas Peetz at VMware Front Experience