When running the ESXi 5.0 kickstart script, commands in %firstboot do not get executed

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
When using the kickstart script (ks.cfg) to install or upgrade to ESXi 5.0, commands in %firstboot do not get executed.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0

Cause

This issue occurs when the reboot command is run directly after the %firstboot section in the ks.cfg file.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must pause the execution of the script, so that the commands are saved locally before they are executed after the reboot.

To pause the execution of the script, use sleep 30 (30 seconds) after the %firstboot command and before the reboot command. This gives sufficient time for the commands to be saved locally.