ESXi Upgrade Fails with "esxupdate returned with exit status: 15"
Article ID: 455041
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
When attempting to upgrade VMware ESXi 8.0.3 to a newer release (e.g., from build 25067014 to build 25595708) via VMware vCenter Server, the upgrade task fails.
The vCenter Server task console reports the following error:
esxupdate returned with exit status: 15
Additionally, the OSData partition is observed pointing to the /tmp folder even after rebooting the ESXi host.
Environment
VMware ESXi 8.x
Hardware: USB boot media < 32 GB
Cause
VMware ESXi 8.0 requires a boot disk of at least 32 GB of persistent storage, such as an HDD, SSD, or NVMe device. A boot device must not be shared between ESXi hosts.
Resolution
To resolve this issue, the unsupported and undersized boot device must be replaced with supported persistent storage media.
Additional Information
For detailed guidance on replacing SD cards, boot device requirements, and host rollback behaviors, refer to the following Broadcom Knowledge Base articles:
Replace SD Card Boot Device with Supported Media: https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=85685
ESXi host rolls back to previous version: https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/418807/esxi-host-rolls-back-to-previous-version.html
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