Setup Windows 11 VM in the free edition of VMware ESXi 8.0U3e impossible?

[spuch]

Hi together,

I tried to setup  a new Windows 11 VM in the free edition of VMware ESXi 8.0U3e. I'm struggling, because I don't find a option to add a Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) to the VM which is required for the installation of Windows 11 by Microsoft. I know that there are still some options to bypass the the TPM check within the Windows 11 installer by setting a specific registry key using the command-line, but my goal is to perform a "normal installation" of a fresh Windows 11 VM.
During my investigations I found a blog article of William Lam called Support for Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) on ESXi without vCenter Server? which describes the usage of a vTPM without a vCenter Server but this only holds for "a licensed ESXi host, basically anything EXCEPT for Free ESXi Hypervisor license as that only provides you with read-only access to vSphere API".

To sum up: To my best knowledge a vCenter Server or a licensed ESXi host is required in order to get Windows 11 Setup on VMware ESXi running. Since vCenter is not part of the free edition of ESXi and the free edition has also only read-only access to vSphere API "without tricks" its impossible to use Windows 11 in context of he free edition of VMware ESXi 8.0U3e.

My simple question: Am I missing something so that there is a chance to use the free edition of VMware ESXi 8.0U3e in combination with a Windows 11 VM or the free version limited to Linux VMs which don't require a TPM chip during installation? 

Kind regards
spuch

[ggathagan]

I don't think you are missing anything.
The freebie is basically designed to shut all of us small-to-medium installations up.

I'm assuming that the host hardware has TPM, since you mentioned the read-only access to the vSphere API.

[bb2bb2]

Select Shift + F10, then at the command prompt type the following:

  reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig /v BypassTPMCheck /t REG_DWORD /d 00000001
  reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig /v BypassSecureBootCheck /t REG_DWORD /d 00000001

[spuch]

Yes the host has TPM, that why I had a look into the powershell scripts of William Lam (he explains that keys can be stored in the physical TPM chip) but he also point aóut, that the free ESXt vesion hat only read-only access to the vSphere API.

The mentioned registry keys from @bb2bb2 is that what I mentioned with "some options to bypass the the TPM check" but thats nothing I'm looking for. If Microsoft disables that option with a simple security update (or any other update) a VM would no longer be usable ...

[bb2bb2]

I see. What you are looking for is licensed vsphere, or use free proxmox which does allow for this.  you can't/could not do what you want with any of the esxi free versions.   Esxi free version is not intended for critical/production env...but for lab and test env. 

[bb2bb2]

in the free version, including the esxi free versions of the past...you know before Broadcom came along and mucked things about...this still applied: "Note: You will need a licensed ESXi host, basically anything EXCEPT for Free ESXi Hypervisor license as that only provides you with read-only access to vSphere API"

with esxi free you still need to use the workaround:   
"

So you still need to bypass to make it work in the latest exsi free versions too
    
"Select Shift + F10, then at the command prompt type the following:

  reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig /v BypassTPMCheck /t REG_DWORD /d 00000001
  reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig /v BypassSecureBootCheck /t REG_DWORD /d 00000001
"

This post from 2023: 
https://community.broadcom.com/vmware-cloud-foundation/discussion/windows-11-on-esxi-free-license