VMware ESXi 7.0/8.0 with Auto Deploy fails to boot with error "Shutting down firmware services... Using 'simple offset' UEFI RTS mapping policy"

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
ESXi 7.0/8.0 hosts fail to boot during installation using Auto Deploy with UEFI Boot option, showing the error message:

Shutting down firmware services... 
Using 'simple offset' UEFI RTS mapping policy

Example:

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x

Resolution

Please contact your Hardware Vendor to update physical server Firmware (BIOS) version to the latest.

If you are already using the latest Firmware (BIOS) version, please follow the below steps:

1. Connect to vCenter Server using VMware PowerCLI. For more information , see vSphere PowerCLI Administration Guide.

   # Connect-VIServer -Server vCenter_IP -Protocol https -User [email protected] -Password <password>

Example:

# Connect-VIServer -Server vcsa.example.com -Protocol https -User [email protected] -Password ******

Output should look like:

2. Run the following PowerCLI Command: 

   # Set-DeployOption "extra-boot-args" "norts=1"

 

Note: If the command didn't get the ESXi Host boot (same issue), please run the following PowerCLI command in addition to the first one:

# Set-DeployOption "extra-kernel-args" "-U"