“Enabled / Needs reboot” means ESXi has saved a passthrough change, but the PCI device is not yet active for passthrough. The required restart is a full ESXi host reboot, not a restart of the guest VM. If the status remains after a host reboot, check the exact PCI device, firmware settings, Intel VMD, and server-slot compatibility before repeating the reboot.
What “Enabled / Needs Reboot” means
In the ESXi PCI Devices view, an orange icon or “Enabled / Needs reboot” status indicates a pending host configuration change. Broadcom explains that the device cannot be used until the host restarts. Juniper’s vMX guide likewise instructs administrators to restart the host after enabling and saving SR-IOV; after restart, the state should appear as Active when the configuration is effective.
The status alone does not confirm that passthrough is working. It records the requested configuration, not proof that ESXi has successfully activated the device for a VM.
Confirm the device and its current state
- In the ESXi Host Client or vSphere Client, open the host’s Configure or Manage area, then go to Hardware > PCI Devices. Labels can vary by client and ESXi release.
- Show all PCI devices if the view is filtered, then identify the intended device by its description and record its PCI address. Broadcom recommends exposing all devices and filtering by description when locating a device.
- Record the device’s passthrough and SR-IOV states. Make sure you are diagnosing the intended PCI function rather than another function on the same adapter or controller.
Keep the PCI address and device description available for the CLI checks below. A similar name is not enough to safely change PCI passthrough configuration.
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Apply the change with a full ESXi host reboot
Save the setting and perform a full reboot of the ESXi host. A VM reboot, guest operating-system restart, or powering a VM off and on does not activate a host-level PCI passthrough change. Place the host in maintenance mode if your workload and operating procedures require it, and plan for the host outage.
After the host returns, revisit Configure/Manage > Hardware > PCI Devices and check the same PCI address. If the change took effect, the pending reboot indication should clear and the device should be shown as active for the configured feature. If the status persists, treat that as a diagnostic result rather than simply rebooting repeatedly.
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Check firmware prerequisites and Intel VMD
Verify VT-d/IOMMU and SR-IOV
In the server’s BIOS/UEFI, verify that Intel VT-d (the platform’s IOMMU support) and SR-IOV are enabled when required by the device and platform. Broadcom specifically notes that BIOS SR-IOV must be enabled for the applicable passthrough case. Firmware menu names and requirements differ between server models, so use the server and adapter documentation for the relevant settings.
Check whether Intel VMD is hiding the device
Intel VMD can sit between ESXi and PCI devices and prevent expected devices from appearing normally. If the target device is absent from the PCI list or does not match the expected topology, check whether VMD is enabled and managing that device. Do not disable VMD automatically: it may be part of the server’s storage design, and changing it can affect storage visibility or boot behavior. Confirm the consequences for the particular server before changing it.
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Check ESXi device state from the command line
Use the ESXi Shell or SSH access permitted by your environment to list passthrough devices and correlate the result with the PCI address and device shown by lspci:
esxcli hardware pci pcipassthru list
Broadcom documents clearing passthrough on a selected device with this command format:
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esxcli hardware pci pcipassthru set -d <PCI_Device_ID> -a -e=0
Replace <PCI_Device_ID> with the exact ID for the target device from the host’s PCI listing. Do not run the change against an unrelated device. Where appropriate, rescan, sync the configuration, and reboot:
vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/sync_config
The CLI can help expose or clear stale passthrough state that is not obvious in the UI; it does not resolve missing firmware prerequisites or unsupported hardware topology.
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Clear stale passthrough state carefully
- Identify the exact PCI device ID and confirm that disabling passthrough will not remove a host storage or network device your ESXi host needs.
- Disable passthrough for that device using the documented
esxclicommand format, then synchronize configuration where appropriate and reboot the ESXi host. - After reboot, verify that the device has returned to its expected native-driver or storage-adapter role.
- Only after confirming that state, re-enable passthrough for the intended device in the PCI Devices view and reboot the host again to apply it.
This sequence changes ESXi’s configuration for the selected PCI ID. It is not a substitute for correcting BIOS/UEFI settings, VMD ownership, or a compatibility problem.
If it still says “Needs Reboot” after the host reboot
A VMware community report describes an Intel I350 SR-IOV configuration that retained the status after repeated reboots. That example shows why repeating the same reboot is not a reliable fix: the cause can be platform or device support rather than a missed restart.
Check compatibility for the complete configuration—not just the adapter model—including the server, riser, PCIe slot, adapter firmware, and ESXi release/build. Review the relevant vendor and VMware/Broadcom compatibility guidance. Without the server model, ESXi build, PCI address, BIOS revision, slot/riser layout, and relevant logs, a single model-specific cause cannot be determined.
Quick Recap
| What you find | Where to focus next |
|---|---|
| The target PCI device is missing or cannot be matched | Confirm the PCI address and device listing; investigate VMD and the server’s slot/riser topology. |
| Firmware SR-IOV or VT-d/IOMMU is disabled | Check the server and device documentation, enable the required setting, then reboot the host. |
| The device remains pending and the CLI shows stale passthrough state | Verify the PCI ID and host dependencies before clearing passthrough for that device and rebooting. |
| The device remains pending after state and firmware checks | Verify the full server, slot, adapter firmware, and ESXi compatibility path rather than repeating reboots. |
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