One of the minor annoyances of using unsupported hardware is that you get unexpected behaviour. The Intel NUC will not report some required hardware states that ESXi needs. These include things such as the make, model, serial, and asset numbers. In order to work around this we need to build a custom BIOS to populate missing values. Thanks to Virten.net for the know how to do this. There is one caveat, the NUC does not appear in the "download and customize selection" any more. download the BIOS file from Intel Open the file Add in the missing details—I've created a BIOS file for each node with proper details for each, but that isn't really required. Save the BIOS file(s) To easily create a bootable USB use Rufus Rufus version: 2.5.799 Windows version: Windows 10 64-bit (Build 10240) Syslinux versions: 4.07/2013-07-25, 6.03/2014-10-06 Grub versions: 0.4.6a, 2.02~beta2 Locale ID: 0x0409 0 devices found Checking for Rufus updates... Checking
VMware Solutions Architect at @AsystecDMS, specialising in Virtualisation Architecture, vRealize Suite (Automation, AppServices, OpsMgmt)