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HyperCube — Building the custom BIOS

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.

  1. download the BIOS file from Intel
  2. Open the file
  3. 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.
  4. Save the BIOS file(s)
  5. 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 release channel...
    No new release version found.
    Found USB 2.0 device 'Generic- SD/MMC USB Device' (0BDA:0109)
    1 device found
    Disk type: Removable, Sector Size: 512 bytes
    Cylinders: 7764, TracksPerCylinder: 255, SectorsPerTrack: 63
    Partition type: MBR, NB Partitions: 1
    Disk ID: 0x00000000
    Drive has a Zeroed Master Boot Record
    Partition 1:
      Type: exFAT (0x07)
      Size: 59.5 GB (63847792640 bytes)
      Start Sector: 32768, Boot: No, Recognized: Yes
    Found USB 2.0 device 'Generic- SD/MMC USB Device' (0BDA:0109)
    1 device found
    Disk type: Removable, Sector Size: 512 bytes
    Cylinders: 7764, TracksPerCylinder: 255, SectorsPerTrack: 63
    Partition type: MBR, NB Partitions: 1
    Disk ID: 0x00000000
    Drive has a Zeroed Master Boot Record
    Partition 1:
      Type: exFAT (0x07)
      Size: 59.5 GB (63847792640 bytes)
      Start Sector: 32768, Boot: No, Recognized: Yes

    Format operation started
    Requesting disk access...
    Opened drive \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 for write access
    Will use 'G:' as volume mountpoint
    I/O boundary checks disabled
    Analyzing existing boot records...
    Drive has a Zeroed Master Boot Record
    Volume has an unknown Partition Boot Record
    Deleting partitions...
    Clearing MBR/PBR/GPT structures...
    Erasing 128 sectors
    Partitioning (MBR)...
    Closing existing volume...
    Waiting for logical drive to reappear...
    Formatting (exFAT)...
    Using cluster size: 512 bytes
    Quick format was selected
    Creating file system...
    Format completed.
    Writing master boot record...
    Drive has a Zeroed Master Boot Record
    Using Windows 7 MBR
    Found volume GUID \\?\Volume{9eefeece-c89a-11e4-a82e-005056c00008}\
    Created: G:\autorun.inf
    Created: G:\autorun.ico
    Successfully remounted Volume{9eefeece-c89a-11e4-a82e-005056c00008}\ on G:\

    Found USB 2.0 device 'Generic- SD/MMC USB Device' (0BDA:0109)
    Using autorun.inf label for drive G: '64GB'
    1 device found
    Disk type: Removable, Sector Size: 512 bytes
    Cylinders: 7764, TracksPerCylinder: 255, SectorsPerTrack: 63
    Partition type: MBR, NB Partitions: 1
    Disk ID: 0x06AA1080
    Drive has a Windows 7 Master Boot Record
    Partition 1:
      Type: exFAT (0x07)
      Size: 59.5 GB (63863521280 bytes)
      Start Sector: 2048, Boot: No, Recognized: Yes
  6. Copy the BIOS files to the USB, and power on a NUC.
  7. Press F7 to update the BIOS
  8. Select the file and update.

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