VMware ESXi 8 has dropped the compatibility with a lot of old CPU models, as describiled in Broadcom’s article 318697 (CPU Support Deprecation and Discontinuation In vSphere Releases).
The result if the following error message if you try to install ESXi 8 on a server with an unsupported CPU:

Note that VMware KB 82794 is the same Broadcoam’s article as before.
The discontinued list of CPU in VMware vSphere 8 is very huge and include both Intel and AMD models.
VMware vSphere 8.0x Intel CPU Support Discontinued List:
VCG CPU Series Name | CPU Info | Raw CPUIDs | Code Name |
Intel Xeon E3-1200 Series | 6.2A | 0x000206A0 | Intel Xeon E3 (Sandy Bridge) |
Intel Xeon E3-1100 Series | 6.2A | 0x000206A0 | Intel Xeon E3 (Sandy Bridge) |
Intel Xeon E5-1600 Series | 6.2D | 0x000206D0 | SandyBridge-EP WS |
Intel Xeon E5-2600 Series | 6.2D | 0x000206D0 | SandyBridge-EP 2S |
Intel Xeon E5-1400 Series | 6.2D | 0x000206D0 | SandyBridge-EN |
Intel Xeon E5-4600 Series | 6.2D | 0x000206D0 | SandyBridge-EP 4S |
Intel Xeon E5-2400 Series | 6.2D | 0x000206D0 | SandyBridge-EN |
Intel i7-3600-QE | 6.3A | 0x000306A0 | IvyBridge-DT |
Intel Xeon E3-1200-v2 Series | 6.3A | 0x000306A0 | IvyBridge-DT |
Intel i7-3500-LE/UE | 6.3A | 0x000306A0 | IvyBridge-DT |
Intel i3-3200 Series | 6.3A | 0x000306A0 | IvyBridge-DT |
Intel Pentium B925C | 6.3A | 0x000306A0 | IvyBridge-DT- Gladden |
Intel Xeon E3-1100-C-v2 Series | 6.3A | 0x000306A0 | IvyBridge-DT- Gladden |
Intel Xeon E5-1600-v2 Series | 6.3E | 0x000306E0 | IvyBridge EP |
Intel Xeon E5-2600-v2 Series | 6.3E | 0x000306E0 | IvyBridge EP |
Intel Xeon E5-2400-v2 Series | 6.3E | 0x000306E0 | IvyBridge-EN |
Intel Xeon E5-1400-v2 Series | 6.3E | 0x000306E0 | IvyBridge-EN |
Intel Xeon E5-4600-v2 Series | 6.3E | 0x000306E0 | IvyBridge-EP 4S |
Intel Xeon E7-8800/4800/2800-v2 | 6.3E | 0x000306E0 | IvyBridge-EX |
Intel i7-4700-EQ Series | 6.3C | 0x000306C0 | Haswell-DT |
Intel Xeon E3-1200-v3 Series | 6.3C | 0x000306C0 | Haswell-DT |
Intel i5-4500-TE Series | 6.3C | 0x000306C0 | Haswell-DT |
Intel i3-4300 Series | 6.3C | 0x000306C0 | Haswell-DT |
Intel Xeon E5-1600-v3 Series | 6.3F | 0x000306F0 | Haswell-EP |
Intel Xeon E5-2600-v3 Series | 6.3F | 0x000306F0 | Haswell-EP |
Intel Xeon E5-1400-v3 Series | 6.3F | 0x000306F0 | Haswell-EN |
Intel Xeon E5-2400-v3 Series | 6.3F | 0x000306F0 | Haswell-EN |
Intel Xeon E5-4600-v3 Series | 6.3F | 0x000306F0 | Haswell-EP |
Intel Xeon E7-8800/4800-v3 Series | 6.3F | 0x000306F0 | Intel Haswell-EX |
Intel Xeon E3-1200-v4 Series | 6.47 | 0x00040670 | Broadwell-DT |
Intel Core i7-5700EQ | 6.47 | 0x00040670 | Broadwell-H |
Intel Atom C2700 Series | 6.4D | 0x000406D0 | Intel Avoton 8c |
Intel Atom C2300 Series | 6.4D | 0x000406D0 | Intel Avoton 2c |
Intel Atom C2500 Series | 6.4D | 0x000406D0 | Intel Avoton 4c |
VMware vSphere 8.0x AMD CPU Support Discontinued List:
VCG CPU Series Name | CPU Info | Raw CPUIDs | Code Name |
AMD Opteron 6200 Series | 15.01 | 0x00600F10 | Interlagos BullDozer G34 |
AMD Opteron 4200 Series | 15.01 | 0x00600F10 | Valencia BullDozer C32 |
AMD Opteron 3200 Series | 15.01 | 0x00600F10 | Zurich AM3 |
AMD Opteron 4300 Series | 15.02 | 0x00600F20 | Piledriver-C32 (seoul) |
AMD Opteron 3300 Series | 15.02 | 0x00600F20 | Piledriver-AM3 (Dehli) |
AMD Opteron 6300 Series | 15.02 | 0x00600F20 | PileDriver-G34 (Abu Dhabi) |
AMD Opteron X2250 Series | 15.30 | 0x00630F00 | Steamroller-Berlin |
AMD Opteron X1250 Series | 15.30 | 0x00630F00 | Steamroller-Berlin |
AMD Opteron X1100 Series | 16.00 | 0x00700F00 | Kyoto |
AMD Opteron X2100 Series | 16.00 | 0x00700F00 | Kyoto |
And the list does not includes all the desktop/laptop CPU models.
If your purpose is to install ESXi 8 in a lab environment, how can you skip the CPU check step?
To bypass this error in the boot, do as follows:
- Reboot into boot media again
- After the ESXi boot menu when the “Loading ESXi Installer” is starting click
SHIFT+O
within 5 seconds to add boot options. - Type “
allowLegacyCPU=true
” behind the line. Like this:
<ENTER: Apply options and boot>
> runweasel cdromBoot allowLegacyCPU=true

- Click ENTER and continue installation as normal.
Note that you may still have issues.
ESXi 8.0 Update 2 requires CPU processors that support XSAVE instruction or you will not be able to upgrade and means you will hardware with a minimum of an Intel Sandy Bridge or AMD Bulldozer processor or later.
For an interactive installation of ESXi, the additional acknowledgment is not an issue but for an automated installation of ESXi using Kickstart, this can be a problem since you are still required to manually hit enter before the installation actually begins.
There a workaround for this and is describe in this William Lam’s article:
Yes and there are actually a couple of options that can be passed into ESXi Kickstart script depending on which pre-check messages you would like ignored for automated installations.
- –ignoreprereqwarnings – Will ignore warning messages
- –ignoreprereqerrors – Will ignore error messages
- –forceunsupportedinstall – Will ignore error/warning messages for deprecated CPUs
Also remember that next vSphere version (9.0) will drop other CPU familes:
Intel Skylake CPUs: Intel has transitioned the Skylake generation of processors into their ESU (End of Servicing Update) / EOSL (End of Servicing Lifetime) phase. This includes the server class Xeon- Scalable Processors (SP) series, by December 31, 2023. As a result, VMware is planning to discontinue support of the Intel Skylake family processors in the future vSphere major release after 8.0.x.
VCG CPU Series Name | CPU Info | Raw CPUIDs | Code Name | vSphere 8.0.x line | Future Major vSphere Release |
Xeon D-1500 Series | 6.56 | 0x00050660 | Broadwell-DE | Deprecated | Discontinued |
Xeon E3-1200-V5 Series; Xeon E3-1500-V5 Series | 6.5E.3 | 0x000506E3 | Skylake S | Deprecated | Discontinued |
Xeon E5-2600-V4 Series; Xeon E5-1600-V4 Series | 6.4F | 0x000406F0 | Broadwell-EP | Deprecated | Discontinued |
Xeon E5-4600-V4 Series | 6.4F | 0x000406F0 | Broadwell-EP | Deprecated | Discontinued |
Xeon E7-8800/4800-V4 Series | 6.4F | 0x000406F0 | Broadwell-EP | Deprecated | Discontinued |
Xeon E3-1200-v6 Series | 6.9E.9 | 0x000906E9 | Kabylake-S | Deprecated* | Discontinued |
Intel Xeon Platinum 8100, Gold 6100/5100, Silver 4100, Bronze 3100 (Skylake-SP) Series | 6.55.4 | 0x00050654 | Skylake-SP | Deprecated* | Discontinued |
Xeon D-2100 Series | 6.55.4 | 0x00050654 | Skylake-D | Deprecated* | Discontinued |
Xeon W-2100 Series | 6.55.4 | 0x00050654 | Skylake-W | Deprecated* | Discontinued |
Note: *Deprecated notice was only implemented in 8.0.U2 due to Intel’s recent announcement for Skylake EOS/EOL in Dec 2022.