: If you are using specific hardware like Dell, HPE, or Lenovo, you can download customized ISOs that include necessary drivers directly from the Broadcom Portal under the "Custom ISOs" tab. 2. Prepare Installation Media
: Select the 8.0 release to download the .iso file directly.
If a friend or colleague has shared a verified VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0.0-xxxxxx.x86_64.iso on Google Drive:
Option A — Bootable USB (recommended):
We will show you how to do this below.
VMware ESXi 8.0 remains one of the most powerful Type-1 hypervisors for building a homelab or managing enterprise workloads. While Broadcom's acquisition of VMware initially caused confusion regarding free access, the is officially available for free download again.