I recently had access to four Dell VxRail E560F nodes and wanted to see if I could repurpose them for a Nutanix AHV lab environment. This is not intended as a supported production design, but as a practical lab exercise for reusing existing hardware.
First, we need to convert the VxRail node to an ordinary PowerEdge server. Please see this link for more information: Changing a Dell VxRail Identity
Continue readingThis article provides a quick overview of the steps I used to convert a former Dell VxRail node back into a standard Dell PowerEdge server. The objective was to remove the VxRail-specific configuration and identity, allowing the system to operate as a regular PowerEdge host for lab use and workloads unrelated to VMware or vSAN.
The server used in this example was a Dell VxRail E560F, which needed to be rebranded and restored to its original Dell PowerEdge R640 identity.
Disclamer: Remember that changing the identity and firmware baseline of former appliance hardware may have service / support implications.
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*** Update 08-03-2026 ***
Updating to ESXi 8 Update 3i did not help. I’m still seeing PSOD after a few days running on the realtek driver 🙁
*** Update 26-02-2026 ***
This showed up in “ESXi 8.0 Update 3i Release Notes” that was just released last night :
So there might be a change that this fixes it. My lab host with the realtek driver has been updated now – stay tuned for an update!
*** Original post ***
I’m trying to figure out why my Maxtang NUC is experiencing a PSOD every 3–4 days after I started using the Realtek driver fling (there are no PSODs when using the USB fling).
Realtek driver:
VMware-Re-Driver_1.101.00-5vmw.800.1.0.20613240.zip
Does anyone have any clues? If so, please reply in the comments section 🙂
If disabling the Efficient Cores (in BIOS) on your new NUC system doesn’t help you to install ESXi 8 on your new NUC – then read on!
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