--- title: "Forcing an Upgrade to vSphere 8" description: "I run a reasonably extensive homelab that is of course built around the VMware ecosystem." date: 2022-12-14T21:43:39+00:00 modified: 2026-06-01T19:02:43+00:00 author: James Kilby categories: - Homelab - VMware - vSphere - Storage - Synology - Personal - VMware Cloud on AWS - Networking - Ansible tags: - #Upgrade - #vSphere 8 url: https://jameskilby.co.uk/2022/12/forcing-an-upgrade-to-vsphere-8/ image: https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Screenshot-2022-12-14-at-21.24.32.png --- ![](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Screenshot-2022-12-14-at-21.45.23.png) [Homelab](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/homelab/) | [VMware](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vmware/) | [vSphere](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vsphere/) # Forcing an Upgrade to vSphere 8 By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) December 14, 2022 · Updated June 1, 2026 • 📖1 min read(283 words) 📅**Published:** December 14, 2022•**Updated:** June 01, 2026 I run a reasonably extensive [homelab](https://jameskilby.co.uk/lab/) that is of course built around the VMware ecosystem. So with the release of vSphere 8 I was obviously going to upgrade, however, a few personal things blocked me from doing it until now. The vCenter upgrade was smooth; however, knowing that some of the hardware I am running is a little dated this was always going to carry a risk. I tried using lifecycle manager (vLCM) within vCenter but I was faced with the following and I couldn’t see a way to force remediate from within vCenter. Therefore I resorted to doing it from the command line. ![Screenshot 2022 12 14 at 21.24.32](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Screenshot-2022-12-14-at-21.24.32-1024x245.png)Host is not compatible Firstly enable SSH on each of the hosts to be upgraded Then Allow HTTP traffic in the ESXi firewall esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient 📋 Copy The next step is to list the available ESXi profiles using the online depot. In my case, I was looking for ESXi 8.0a esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml | grep -i ESXi-8.0a 📋 Copy Then comes the Install, I had validated that this would be ok by installing from USB to another node. All of the hardware that I needed continued to work as expected with the only significant loss being the Mellanox Connect X-3 40Gb/s adaptor. esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-8.0a-20842819-standard -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml --no-hardware-warning 📋 Copy Update Result Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective. Reboot Required: true It also listed all of the newly installed VIB’s The last step is to disable the firewall rule and then SSH esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient 📋 Copy ## 📚 Related Posts * [Automated VCF 9 Offline Depot](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2026/04/automated-vcf-9-offline-depot/) * [My Self-Hosted AI Stack: Infrastructure Deep Dive (Part 2)](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2026/04/my-self-hosted-ai-stack-infrastructure-deep-dive-part-2/) * [My Self-Hosted AI Stack: Architecture Overview (Part 1)](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2026/03/my-self-hosted-ai-stack-a-technical-deep-dive/) ## Similar Posts * [ ![Homelab SSD Failure: How Synology RAID Saved My Data](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BrokenHardDive-1200x630-1-768x403.jpg) ](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2022/11/homelab-bad-days-almost/) [Homelab](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/homelab/) | [Storage](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/storage/) | [Synology](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/synology/) ### [Homelab SSD Failure: How Synology RAID Saved My Data](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2022/11/homelab-bad-days-almost/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) November 21, 2022 · Updated June 1, 2026 I recently spent 3 weeks in Ireland with my wife Wendy and our son Nate. * [ ![Advanced Deploy VMware vSphere 7.x 3V0-22.21N](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image.png) ](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2023/11/advanced-deploy-vmware-vsphere-7-x-3v0-22-21n/) [VMware](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vmware/) | [Personal](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/personal/) | [vSphere](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vsphere/) ### [Advanced Deploy VMware vSphere 7.x 3V0-22.21N](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2023/11/advanced-deploy-vmware-vsphere-7-x-3v0-22-21n/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) November 10, 2023 · Updated June 1, 2026 Yesterday I sat and passed the above exam. It had been on my todo list for a good number of years. With the current pause in the Broadcom VMware takeover deal. * [ ![Lab Update – Part 2 Storage Truenas Scale](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/maxresdefault-768x432.jpeg) ](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2022/01/lab-update-part-2-storage/) [Homelab](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/homelab/) | [Storage](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/storage/) ### [Lab Update – Part 2 Storage Truenas Scale](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2022/01/lab-update-part-2-storage/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) January 11, 2022 · Updated June 1, 2026 The HP Z840 has changed its role to a permanent storage box running Truenas Scale. * [ ![VMware Cloud on AWS Storage Sizing Quick Reference Guide](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Picture-1-e1768509620339-768x193.png) ](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2025/05/vmc-quick-sizing-guide/) [VMware](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vmware/) | [VMware Cloud on AWS](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vmware/vmware-cloud-on-aws/) ### [VMware Cloud on AWS Storage Sizing Quick Reference Guide](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2025/05/vmc-quick-sizing-guide/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) May 21, 2025 · Updated June 1, 2026 Quick reference guide to the available storage resources that you get in VMware Cloud on AWS * [Homelab](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/homelab/) | [Networking](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/networking/) ### [Homelab Network Upgrade: DACs, 40Gb/s vMotion & pfSense](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2022/01/lab-update-part-3-network/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) January 6, 2022 · Updated May 31, 2026 I have retired the WatchGuard Devices with the migration to PFSense running bare-metal in one of the Supermicro Nodes. * [ ![Managing my Homelab with SemaphoreUI](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/semaphore-768x768.png) ](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2025/09/managing-my-homelab-with-semaphoreui/) [Ansible](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/ansible/) | [Homelab](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/homelab/) ### [Managing my Homelab with SemaphoreUI](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2025/09/managing-my-homelab-with-semaphoreui/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) September 2, 2025 · Updated June 5, 2026 An intro on how I use SemaphoreUI to manage my Homelab