diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/56073-vmware_vm_facts_fix_the_support_with_regular_ESXi.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/56073-vmware_vm_facts_fix_the_support_with_regular_ESXi.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..191d59f7c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/56073-vmware_vm_facts_fix_the_support_with_regular_ESXi.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+- vmware_vm_facts - fix the support with regular ESXi
diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/vmware.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/vmware.py
index 4a7eb62cdc..f4f7515d7b 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/vmware.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/vmware.py
@@ -805,6 +805,9 @@ class PyVmomi(object):
         self.si = None
         self.current_vm_obj = None
         self.content = connect_to_api(self.module)
+        self.custom_field_mgr = []
+        if self.content.customFieldsManager:  # not an ESXi
+            self.custom_field_mgr = self.content.customFieldsManager.field
 
     def is_vcenter(self):
         """
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_guest_custom_attribute_defs.py b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_guest_custom_attribute_defs.py
index a8421bc03b..9953bcfadf 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_guest_custom_attribute_defs.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_guest_custom_attribute_defs.py
@@ -91,7 +91,6 @@ except ImportError:
 class VmAttributeDefManager(PyVmomi):
     def __init__(self, module):
         super(VmAttributeDefManager, self).__init__(module)
-        self.custom_field_mgr = self.content.customFieldsManager.field
 
     def remove_custom_def(self, field):
         changed = False
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_guest_custom_attributes.py b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_guest_custom_attributes.py
index 1ae4e31605..d0cc50e498 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_guest_custom_attributes.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_guest_custom_attributes.py
@@ -139,7 +139,6 @@ from ansible.module_utils.vmware import PyVmomi, vmware_argument_spec
 class VmAttributeManager(PyVmomi):
     def __init__(self, module):
         super(VmAttributeManager, self).__init__(module)
-        self.custom_field_mgr = self.content.customFieldsManager.field
 
     def set_custom_field(self, vm, user_fields):
         result_fields = dict()
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_vm_facts.py b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_vm_facts.py
index 4af7d91312..179ca4cf65 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_vm_facts.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_vm_facts.py
@@ -18,9 +18,9 @@ ANSIBLE_METADATA = {
 DOCUMENTATION = r'''
 ---
 module: vmware_vm_facts
-short_description: Return basic facts pertaining to a vSphere virtual machine guest
+short_description: Return basic facts pertaining to a VMware machine guest
 description:
-- Return basic facts pertaining to a vSphere virtual machine guest.
+- Return basic facts pertaining to a vSphere or ESXi virtual machine guest.
 - Cluster name as fact is added in version 2.7.
 version_added: '2.0'
 author:
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ author:
 - Abhijeet Kasurde (@Akasurde)
 - Fedor Vompe (@sumkincpp)
 notes:
-- Tested on vSphere 5.5 and vSphere 6.5
+- Tested on ESXi 6.7, vSphere 5.5 and vSphere 6.5
 - From 2.8 and onwards, facts are returned as list of dict instead of dict.
 requirements:
 - python >= 2.6
@@ -150,7 +150,6 @@ from ansible.module_utils.vmware import PyVmomi, get_all_objs, vmware_argument_s
 class VmwareVmFacts(PyVmomi):
     def __init__(self, module):
         super(VmwareVmFacts, self).__init__(module)
-        self.custom_field_mgr = self.content.customFieldsManager.field
 
     def get_vm_attributes(self, vm):
         return dict((x.name, v.value) for x in self.custom_field_mgr
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/vmware_vm_inventory.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/vmware_vm_inventory.py
index 1c004d5467..165919b853 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/vmware_vm_inventory.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/vmware_vm_inventory.py
@@ -473,7 +473,9 @@ class InventoryModule(BaseInventoryPlugin, Cacheable):
             'runtime.maxMemoryUsage',
             'customValue',
         ]
-        field_mgr = self.pyv.content.customFieldsManager.field
+        field_mgr = []
+        if self.pyv.content.customFieldsManager:
+            field_mgr = self.pyv.content.customFieldsManager.field
 
         for vm_prop in vm_properties:
             if vm_prop == 'customValue':
diff --git a/test/units/module_utils/test_vmware.py b/test/units/module_utils/test_vmware.py
index e3905e40a3..9836f13396 100644
--- a/test/units/module_utils/test_vmware.py
+++ b/test/units/module_utils/test_vmware.py
@@ -89,7 +89,9 @@ class FakeAnsibleModule:
 
 
 def fake_connect_to_api(module):
-    pass
+    class MyContent():
+        customFieldsManager = None
+    return MyContent
 
 
 def test_pyvmomi_lib_exists(mocker, fake_ansible_module):