Integrating a Kickstart config file in an ESXi ISO fails to be found during installation

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• When customizing an installation of an ESXi Installable ISO to include the kickstart configuration file, the installation fails at finding the ks.cfg file.
  
• The same file ks.cfg can be located on a Web server, or NFS share, and will function correctly.

• The ks.cfg files are located on the DVD-ROM (at the root directory or in a /ks directory) and the modified isolinux.cfg command may look as follows:
  
  append vmkboot.gz ks=cdrom:/ks/ks.cfg

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5

Resolution

This is due to an ESXi limitation of placing the file on a ISO 9660, UDF format for CD-ROM drives. Since ISO 9660, UDF format supports only 8.3 UPPERCASE names. To work around this issue, change the command to reference the file in uppercase, for example

ks=cdrom:/KS/KS.CFG

Additional Information

VMware is aware of this issue, and is actively working on correcting the problem in a later release.

インストール中に、Kickstart 構成ファイルを ESXi ISO と連携させる処理が失敗する
安装期间找不到 Kickstart 配置文件以集成到 ESXi ISO 中