Look for the "Dell EMC Custom Image for VMware ESXi 6.5" on the Dell Support site under your server's driver page.
The search for is common among home lab enthusiasts and legacy system administrators. However, the landscape for acquiring and using this hypervisor has completely changed. Broadcom's acquisition of VMware fundamentally altered the availability of legacy software, licensing models, and the official free standalone tier.
Run the command (replace /dev/sdX with your exact USB path): vmware esxi 6.5 download iso free
The free download page previously hosted at vmware.com is gone. You must now look through the VMware product list.
Insert a blank USB flash drive (8GB or larger) into your workstation. Look for the "Dell EMC Custom Image for VMware ESXi 6
with username root and the password created during installation.
While the ISO can be downloaded, it requires a license key to function beyond the 60-day evaluation period. VMware offers the edition, which is free but has limitations (e.g., no vCenter support, limited physical CPU sockets). Insert a blank USB flash drive (8GB or
If you are running ESXi 6.5 on enterprise servers (like Dell PowerEdge or HPE ProLiant), it is highly recommended to use the vendor-customized ISO. These images contain specific storage and network drivers missing from the generic VMware installer.
The ESXi bootloader menu will appear. Select and press Enter. Wait for the installer files to extract into system memory. At the Welcome screen, press Enter to continue. Press F11 to accept the End User License Agreement (EULA).
Open a web browser on a separate computer on the same network. Enter the server IP address: https:// Bypass the SSL security warning.
Select the category from the results. Step 3: Selecting the Correct ISO Version Expand the version history drop-down and choose 6.5 .