How to update ESXi 4.1 without vCenter

I wanted to update a standalone ESXi box from 4.1 to 4.1 Update 1. Here is how I went about it:

  1. Downloaded the update on a windwos box from here and unziped it
  2. Open the viClient datastore browser and upload the unzipped folder. If you put it off the root of your datastore, the path will be:
    1. /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/update/update-from-esxi4.1-4.1_update01
  3. Install the VMware vSphere PowerCLI – which is a Windows PowerShell interface to the vSphere API
  4. Add the VMware cmdlts to your PowerShell session: add-pssnapin “VMware.VimAutomation.Core”
  5. Put the ESXi server into maintenance mode.
  6. In PowerShell, connect to the ESXi server:  Connect-VIServer servername.domain.local
  7. In PowerShell: Install-VMHostPatch -HostPath /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/update-from-esxi4.1-4.1_update01/metadata.zip
  8. The result was: WARNING: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
  9. Reboot!

The summary below was also returned:

Id                                              VMHostId IsIns IsApp Needs Needs
                                                         talle licab Resta Recon
                                                         d     le    rt    nect
--                                              -------- ----- ----- ----- -----
cross_oem-vmware-esx-drivers-scsi-3w-9xxx_... ...ha-host False True  True  False
cross_oem-vmware-esx-drivers-net-vxge_400.... ...ha-host False True  True  False
deb_vmware-esx-firmware_4.1.0-1.4.348481      ...ha-host False False True  False
deb_vmware-esx-tools-light_4.1.0-1.4.348481   ...ha-host True  True  False False

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