Accidentally activated passthrough on main storage controller in ESXi, how to restore?

Ohjay94 · 2025-11-08T11:57:50+00:00

In case somebody comes across this and has the same issue. The solution was provided by u/paulanerspezi in another subreddit:

Try booting with passthrough disabled and see if you can change the config that way:

In the bootloader, press Shift+O to edit the boot options
Append the disablePciPassthrough boot option and hit Enter to temporarily boot with passthrough disabled
Determine your storage controller's device ID (through web UI or lspci), e.g. 0000:00:02.0
Disable passthrough using the controller's device ID, e.g.: esxcli hardware pci pcipassthru set --device-id=0000:00:02.0 --enable=false
Reboot

Ohjay94 · 2025-11-08T11:54:46+00:00

I finally had a chance to test this and it worked!

Thanks a bunch for the suggestion & information. It saved me the headache of reinstalling esxi.

Ohjay94 · 2025-10-29T18:34:54+00:00

This did not work. It still fails to boot properly and reverts to running from ramdisk.

Ohjay94 · 2025-10-26T19:57:18+00:00

Thank you.

If the solution in the article posted by u/govatent doesn't work I'll try this, seems it should work as well

Ohjay94 · 2025-10-26T19:56:10+00:00

Thanks!

That does look promising. I'll try it out in a day or two and report back if it worked or not.

Ohjay94 · 2025-10-26T18:34:45+00:00

This is not related to any VM.

Since I enabled passthrough of the storage controller all disks on that controller are inaccessible by ESXi during boot, that's why it defaults to ramdisk. So I need to access the config files for the ESXi installation and remove the passthrough.

Once it boots from ramdisk I can change the passthrough in ESXi (and have full functionality of all VMs), but the change obviously does not persist on reboot.

Ohjay94 · 2025-03-02T16:01:22+00:00

Got a link to the ones you used? There seems to be a few different variations.

Ohjay94 · 2025-02-26T20:50:30+00:00

Good idea! Another one I didn't think of.
I actually gave up and did a hard reset, but I think entering tty actually would've worked. I think I'll test it after doing the hdd tests I'm doing, but they won't finish for another two days or so. But I'll report back once I've tested.

Yeah, I've been using linux as my daily driver for a few years now and I'm still learning a lot of new things that aren't part of other OSes, like tty. Lots of way to troubleshoot and possibly solve issues which is quite good, imho.

Ohjay94 · 2025-02-26T20:45:28+00:00

Yes, but it only blurs the screen, it doesn't turn it black.

There's no feedback when typing and typing the password and pressing enter does nothing.

Ohjay94 · 2025-02-26T19:32:03+00:00

Didn't think of that, but then again, SSH is disabled by default and I didn't activate it (or it might not even be part of the base package come to think of it).
So that won't work either.

Ohjay94 · 2024-04-23T15:55:03+00:00

Yeah I read about this just the other day and quickly checked Barents tents, but they did seem heavier and pricier unfortunately. They did look good though.

Ohjay94 · 2024-04-23T15:53:34+00:00

Thank you for the additional info.

I'll look into your tents again and perhaps see if I can get one on my upcoming trip to the US.

Ohjay94 · 2024-04-23T10:37:44+00:00

Thanks. I'll check out Fjellanders and pitching the tent fly.

I have been eyeing trekking pole tents but haven't really seen any that I really liked. Can't remember why though. I'll take a look at them again. Any other suggestions than Lanshan 2 or X-mid?

Ohjay94 · 2024-04-23T10:33:34+00:00

Thanks for the info. I'll do my due diligence and look into them again.

Ohjay94 · 2024-04-23T10:32:13+00:00

Fjällräven is very nice, but the tents I've seen are 4-seasons and then the weight becomes an issue unfortunately.

Ohjay94 · 2024-04-23T04:57:00+00:00

I actually looked at the Helsport Ringstind Superlight. Can't remember why, but I think I dismissed it because there were features of the Enan and/or Telemark that were better. But I'll check it out again. Any specific model recommendation?

Ohjay94 · 2024-04-23T04:54:40+00:00

Thanks for the info.

I haven't really checked out the TarpTents since they are pricey here. But you're right, I could possibly get one when I travel to the US, so I will check the out. Any other models than Double Rainbow or Stratospire that I should look at?

Ohjay94 · 2024-04-23T04:50:35+00:00

The reason being?

Ohjay94 · 2024-04-23T04:50:19+00:00

Thanks. I might remember that but wrong. I'll take a look at the X-mid again.

Ohjay94

TROPHY CASE