This is perhaps the most critical section for IT planners. VMware ESXi 7.0 entered the market on April 2, 2020, with a standard support lifecycle of 7 years: 5 years of general support followed by 2 years of technical guidance. The period for ESXi 7.0 officially ended on October 2, 2025 . This means new bug fixes, security patches, and minor upgrades are no longer being released for the 7.0 branch. While Technical Guidance (limited support) continues until April 2, 2027, customers are strongly encouraged to plan their migration to ESXi 8.0 or later to maintain full support and security compliance. For HPE custom images, this end-of-support timeline applies to the underlying VMware software, although HPE may continue to provide driver and firmware updates for a period following VMware's EOL.
For most users, the direct ISO download is sufficient.
From the "My Downloads" section on the left sidebar, search for VMware vSphere . vmware esxi 7.0 update 3 hpe customized iso image download
This is the cleanest and most efficient deployment method for modern data centers, eliminating the need for physical media.
: Update your HPE Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) firmware to the latest version to prevent management agent disconnects. This is perhaps the most critical section for IT planners
The HPE Customized ISO image injects these critical components directly into the installation media. Integrated HPE ProLiant Drivers
Get-FileHash -Path "C:\Users\Username\Downloads\VMware-ESXi-7.0.3-HPE-Custom.iso" -Algorithm SHA256 Use code with caution. Linux / macOS (Terminal) Open a terminal and execute: sha256sum /path/to/VMware-ESXi-7.0.3-HPE-Custom.iso Use code with caution. This means new bug fixes, security patches, and
: Click the desired version and accept the Broadcom EULA to start the download. HPE Support Center Version & Build Details (Reference) VMware vSphere® Hypervisor ESXi ISO image - HPE Support