I've been struggling for days trying to solve this issue. I installed a latest 7.0u3 on a Dell T150 from USB stick. The host has 1 SSD and 1 HDD standalone disks. I used the SSD for the OS.
After the installation, I configured network and vswitches and vlan ports. I added the esxi license, uploaded my virtual machines on datastores and restarted the host. I then configured autostart and added my VMs to autostart.
The host lost all the settings I configured, effectively a reboot resets it to the first boot state as it was a fresh installation.
I have been searching for solutions all around the web, and surprisingly the vmware KB doesn't have any relevant articles on it. I've found this post on reddit and I ended up with this boot.cfg. After reinstalling I've been able to let the host keep its network configuration, regarding both the host IP and the virtual networks configuration.
bootstate=0
title=Loading ESXi installer
timeout=5
prefix=
kernel=/b.b00
kernelopt=autoPartition=FALSE devListStabilityCount=20
modules=/jumpstrt.gz --- /useropts.gz --- /features.gz --- /k.b00 --- /uc_intel.b00 --- /uc_amd.b00 --- /uc_hygon.b00 --- /procfs.b00 --- /vmx.v00 --- /vim.v00 --- /tpm.v00 --- /sb.v00 --- /s.v00 --- /atlantic.v00 --- /bnxtnet.v00 --- /bnxtroce.v00 --- /brcmfcoe.v00 --- /elxiscsi.v00 --- /elxnet.v00 --- /i40en.v00 --- /iavmd.v00 --- /icen.v00 --- /igbn.v00 --- /ionic_en.v00 --- /irdman.v00 --- /iser.v00 --- /ixgben.v00 --- /lpfc.v00 --- /lpnic.v00 --- /lsi_mr3.v00 --- /lsi_msgp.v00 --- /lsi_msgp.v01 --- /lsi_msgp.v02 --- /mtip32xx.v00 --- /ne1000.v00 --- /nenic.v00 --- /nfnic.v00 --- /nhpsa.v00 --- /nmlx4_co.v00 --- /nmlx4_en.v00 --- /nmlx4_rd.v00 --- /nmlx5_co.v00 --- /nmlx5_rd.v00 --- /ntg3.v00 --- /nvme_pci.v00 --- /nvmerdma.v00 --- /nvmetcp.v00 --- /nvmxnet3.v00 --- /nvmxnet3.v01 --- /pvscsi.v00 --- /qcnic.v00 --- /qedentv.v00 --- /qedrntv.v00 --- /qfle3.v00 --- /qfle3f.v00 --- /qfle3i.v00 --- /qflge.v00 --- /rste.v00 --- /sfvmk.v00 --- /smartpqi.v00 --- /vmkata.v00 --- /vmkfcoe.v00 --- /vmkusb.v00 --- /vmw_ahci.v00 --- /bmcal.v00 --- /crx.v00 --- /elx_esx_.v00 --- /btldr.v00 --- /esx_dvfi.v00 --- /esx_ui.v00 --- /esxupdt.v00 --- /tpmesxup.v00 --- /weaselin.v00 --- /esxio_co.v00 --- /loadesx.v00 --- /lsuv2_hp.v00 --- /lsuv2_in.v00 --- /lsuv2_ls.v00 --- /lsuv2_nv.v00 --- /lsuv2_oe.v00 --- /lsuv2_oe.v01 --- /lsuv2_oe.v02 --- /lsuv2_sm.v00 --- /native_m.v00 --- /qlnative.v00 --- /trx.v00 --- /vdfs.v00 --- /vmware_e.v00 --- /vsan.v00 --- /vsanheal.v00 --- /vsanmgmt.v00 --- /tools.t00 --- /xorg.v00 --- /gc.v00 --- /imgdb.tgz --- /basemisc.tgz --- /resvibs.tgz --- /imgpayld.tgz
build=7.0.3-0.55.20328353
updated=3
devListStabilityCount=20
By the way, some settings are still non persistant across reboots: Autostart is still on and VMs are still set to autostart, but they don't. BTW, when I start them manually, they do start normally. The license is still not saved, at reboot it turns back to evaluation mode.
By googling for this issue I ended on a VMware KB post, but it's been deleted by VMware. It is now a broken link. I'm really confused because I installed hundreds of ESXi hosts with the same procedure, but I never ended in such a state.
As I'm out of troubleshooting options and can't find help on the web I decided to write this post in the hope that someone has run into the same issue and managed to resolve it.
If you need any further insights from the server please let me know in the comments and I will edit the post ASAP.
