Install a VMWare ESXi 6.0 Hypervisor in a Hyper-V VM

Recently I’ve been playing around with the new Hyper-V Nested Virtualization feature within Windows 10 (build 10565 and greater) and Windows Server 2016. It is pretty cool to be able to creat…

Quelle: Install a VMWare ESXi 6.0 Hypervisor in a Hyper-V VM

Hyper-V Nested Virtualization

Part 1 – Prepare the ESXi ISO
Install VMWare PowerCLI: https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/get-download?downloadGroup=PCLI630R1
Open PowerCLI
Download ESXi-Customizer PowerShell Skript: http://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer-ps.html#download and place it in D:\ESXi-Hyper-V
Enter the following commands:

cd D:\ESXi-Hyper-V
.\ESXi-Customizer-PS-v2.5.ps1 -v60 -vft -load net-tulip

Part 2 – Create the Hyper-V VM
– Generation 1
– Startup Memory > 4096 MB
– Use Dynamic Memory for this Virtual Machine: $false
– Virtual Hard Disk: >10 GB
– Install an operating system from a bootable CD/DVD-ROM
– Image ile (.iso): select the in Part 1 generated iso
Now edit the Settings of the ESXi VM:
– Processor: 2
– Remove the “Network Adapter”
– Add a “Legagy Network Adapter”
– Select a Virtual Switch
– Save the settings

Part 3 – Enable Nested Virtualization
– Open PowerShell and write:

Import-Module Hyper-V;
Set-VMProcessor -VMName <VMName> -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions $true;
Get-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName <VMName> | Set-VMNetworkAdapter -MacAddressSpoofing On;

Part 4 – Boot ESXi Virtual Machine
– At the Bootscreen of the installation Media quickly press “Tab” and append “ignoreHeadless=TRUE” at the end of the Boot Options.
– Complete the setup process.
– Remove the installation disk and press “Enter” to reboot.

Part 5 – Configure the ESXi Boot Options:
– At the boot menue quickly press SHIFT+O and add the “ignoreHeadless=TRUE” Boot Option.
– After ESXi has started, press F2 and navigate to “Troubleshooting Options” => “Enable ESXi Shell”
– Press ALT+F1 to switch to the ESXi Shell
– Login to the shell
– Execute esxcfg-advcfg –set-kernel “TRUE” ignoreHeadless
– After that press STRG+D to logoff.
– Now press ALT+F2 to switch back to the GUI.
– Optionally turn off ESXi Shell.
– Esc out off the Options menu.

Now you have a fully funktional ESXi Host within a Hyper-V Virtual Machine. It should be noted, that this setup is not supported neither by VMWare nor by Microsoft.