Downloading ESXi ISOs from third-party "mirror" sites, torrent repositories, or unofficial forums poses a severe security risk.
The old "MyVMware" portal is gone. To get the official ISO, you must now use the Broadcom Support Portal . You need a Broadcom account.
Before downloading, note that (the initial release) is End of General Support . esxi 7.0 download iso
Go to the "Downloads" section and search for VMware vSphere .
The move to the Broadcom portal makes the initial download more tedious for home-lab enthusiasts. You need a Broadcom account
To access the ESXi 7.0 ISO, the user must possess:
Choose version 7.0. Note that Broadcom recently discontinued the permanent "Free Edition" of ESXi (vSphere Hypervisor), but they have since introduced an entry-level hypervisor that can be downloaded free of charge for specific versions under certain conditions. The move to the Broadcom portal makes the
| Check | Details | |-------|---------| | | Latest ESXi 7.0 Update 3 build is 22348816 (as of 2025). Verify on Broadcom Patch Portal . | | SHA256 Checksum | Always verify the downloaded ISO against the official hash to avoid corruption. | | CPU Compatibility | ESXi 7.0 drops support for very old CPUs (pre‑Westmere Intel, pre‑Opteron G6 AMD). | | Storage Controller | ESXi 7.0 removed legacy drivers (e.g., for SATA AHCI in some desktop boards). Consider 6.7 or 8.0 if your hardware has no driver. |
If you are using enterprise hardware (Dell, HPE, Lenovo), always download the Custom ISOs from the Dell Support Site or your respective vendor to ensure driver compatibility. 💻 System Requirements
| Binary Type | Filename Convention | Use Case | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | VMware-VMvisor-Installer-7.x.x-xxxxxxx.x86_64.iso | The standard format for installing ESXi on physical servers via CD/DVD, USB flash drive, or mounted via IPMI/iDRAC/iLO virtual media. | | Offline Bundle | VMware-ESXi-7.x.x-xxxxxxx-depot.zip | Used primarily for updating an existing ESXi host via the command line ( esxcli ) or VMware vCenter Lifecycle Manager. Also required for auto-deploy. | | OEM Images | VMware-VMvisor-Installer-7.x.x-DellEMC_Customized...iso | Vendor-specific ISOs (e.g., Dell, HPE, Lenovo) that include proprietary drivers (RAID controllers, NICs) required for specific hardware configurations. |
Before downloading the ISO, administrators must verify hardware compatibility. ESXi 7.0 introduced stricter requirements compared to version 6.x.