VMware: ESXi requires No-Execute Memory Protection enabled

Today building my new Virtual Home LAB I had an issue with my new HP DL360-G5.

Note: VMware doesn’t support ESXi 5.5 running on DL360-G5(in this case Intel Xeon 5150). But it runs smoothly without any issues. Even is not VMware supported in the HCL.

When I was installing ESXi 5.5 (HP-5.73.21 build) on this server I received a purple screen with this warning:

VMware ESXi 5.5 (VMKernel Release Build 1623387)

The system has found a problem on your machine and cannot continue.

VMware ESXi requires the Execute Disable/No Execute CPU feature to be enabled

This means that you server have the No-Execute Memory Protection option disabled.

You can check here VMware KB 1017758 regarding this issue.

Is very easy to fix it.
Restart you server, enter BIOS and change the option No-Execute Memory Protection to enable.

Then you can re-run ESXi install again.

Hope this can help you.

Note: Share this article, if you think is worth sharing.

About the Author: Luciano Patrao

I have over 20 years of experience in the IT industry. I have been working with Virtualization for more than 15 years (mainly VMware). I recently obtained certifications, including VCP DCV 2022, VCAP DCV Design 2023, and VCP Cloud 2023. Additionally, I have VCP6.5-DCV, VMware vSAN Specialist, vExpert vSAN, vExpert NSX, vExpert Cloud Provider for the last two years, and vExpert for the last 7 years and a old MCP. My specialties are Virtualization, Storage, and Virtual Backup. I am a Solutions Architect in the area VMware, Cloud and Backup / Storage. I am employed by ITQ, a VMware partner as a Senior Consultant. I am also a blogger and owner of the blog ProVirtualzone.com and recently book author.