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frankdenneman Frank Denneman is a Chief Technologist at VMware, primarily focusing on Machine Learning technology. He is an author of the vSphere host and clustering deep dive series, podcast host for the Unexplored Territory podcast, and you can follow him on Twitter @frankdenneman.

Send F11 key to nested ESXi on Mac

29 sec read

I only use Mac at home, most of the time it’s great sometimes it’s not.
For example when installing or configuring your remote lab. I have a windows server installed on a virtual machine that runs vCenter and the vSphere client.

When I’m installing a new nested ESXi server, I connect with a remote desktop session to the Windows machine and use the VMware vSphere client.

During the ESXi install process, it requires to press the F11 key to continue with the install process. However, F11 isn’t mapped by the vSphere client automatically and there isn’t a menu option in the vSphere client to send it to the client.

Fortunately, I found the combination, so I’m writing it down here as I’m bound to forget.

Press FN-CMD-F11 to send the key to the install screen of ESXi.

Happy installing!

frankdenneman Frank Denneman is a Chief Technologist at VMware, primarily focusing on Machine Learning technology. He is an author of the vSphere host and clustering deep dive series, podcast host for the Unexplored Territory podcast, and you can follow him on Twitter @frankdenneman.
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7 Replies to “Send F11 key to nested ESXi on Mac”

  1. Another OSX and fusion user here this saved me from some pain today as it also works when installing ESX using the iDrac console.
    Thank You

  2. Thanks for sharing this Frank. I was for ages frustrated that I couldn’t properly control things like this from a View session on my Mac. This is a big help.

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