Cisco ISE is not an application you install on top of Windows or a standard Linux server. It is delivered as a "Hardened Appliance." When you download the image for VMware, you are essentially downloading a pre-installed, locked-down Linux operating system specifically tuned for ISE services.
. Cisco provides two primary image formats for VMware environments: files for manual installation and download cisco ise vmware image
Here is the hard truth: Unlike open-source software, you cannot download a Cisco ISE VMware image with a simple Google click. Cisco enforces strict entitlement. You will need: Cisco ISE is not an application you install