VMware ESXi has 2 bootbanks; with some luck the second contains your old ESXi version
Posted by jpluimers on 2021/10/19
Just in case I ever need this again:
- [Wayback] VMware Knowledge Base: Reverting to a previous version of ESXi (1033604)
- In the console screen of the ESXi host, press Ctrl+Alt+F2 to see the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) screen.
- Press F12 to view the shutdown options for the ESXi host.
- Press F11 to reboot.
- When the Hypervisor progress bar starts loading, press Shift+R. You will see the warning:
Current hypervisor will permanently be replaced with build: X.X.X-XXXXXX. Are you sure? [y/n] - Press Y to roll back the build.
- Press Enter to boot.
- [Wayback] Downgrade ESXi 6.5 from update 3 to update 2 – VMware Technology Network VMTN; when out of luck:
- This is not my case.As I mentioned, I don’t have altbootbank with update 2. This is because after update 3, I also installed the latest patch.So both bootbanks now have update 3.Is there any other option for me. Can I just install update 2 again so it will overwrite everything? Or it is impossible?
- Backup ESXi configurations and reinstall it without overwriting VMFS.
Via: [Wayback/Archive.is] downgrade esxi 6.5 u3 to u2 – Google Search
–jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
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