VMWare ESX 3.0 Installation

1MeanAdmin

Just wanted to know if anyone came across this issue:

I'm trying to install ESX on Dell PowerEdge 2400 at home. When I finish booting from the ESX installation CD, I choose the language, keyboard and installation type (local cdrom). The next screen shows an error message: "CD Not Found: The VMware ESX Server 3 CD was not found in any of your CDROM drives. Please insert the VMware ESX Server 3 CD and press OK to retry.

I know ESX is very picky about the hardware, but since the setup program found it without a problem and loaded itself at boot up, why would it complain three steps later?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

JDMurray

The setup program and the ESX Server are two different programs, so it is possible that there is something about the CD/DVD drive that ESX Server doesn't like, but is acceptable to the setup program.

It is possible to select an ISO file as the required CD? If so, rip an ISO file from the CD and use that. If not, try the usual fixes for CD/DVD problems:

1. Clean the CD/DVD
2. Rip the disc to an ISO file and burn the ISO image to another disc
3. Upgrade the drive's firmware
4. Use a newer CD/DVD drive