This guide will give you the steps needed to reset the license file so that you can apply the evaluation license back to your ESXi host.
WARNING: This is for education/informational testing/development purposes only, and should not be used on a production server.
To reset your expired ESX 4.x, ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.x, ESXi 6.x, ESXi 7.x or ESXi 8.x evaluation license:
- Login to the HOST via SSH or Shell
- Remove /etc/vmware/license.cfg
- Copy /etc/vmware/.#license.cfg to /etc/vmware/license.cfg
- Restart the vpxa service
Or simply copy the code below and paste it into your SSH session.
rm -fr /etc/vmware/license.cfg
cp /etc/vmware/.#license.cfg /etc/vmware/license.cfg
/etc/init.d/vpxa restart
I tested this on ESXi version 8 and it appears that the steps below are not necessary, but I’m leaving them here for reference.
Then open the “Licensed Features” option in the configuration tab of the ESXi host through the vSphere Client.
Click on “Edit” in the top right of the “Licensed Features” page
Once the “Assign License” window opens you will see two options. There will be a category for “Evaluation Mode” and Assigned License. Click on the “(No License Key)” option and then click “OK”. This will set the host back to “evaluation” mode and will give you access to all features for 60-days!
Revision history:
2023/07/10 – added information about ESXi version 8.x and updated the code to stop the prompt confirming the removal of the license.cfg file.
nice & easy to follow
Hi Aaron,
Thank you very much for your instruction, it helped me avoid many hours of heavy re-installation work of my test ESXi host.
Best regards,
Evgeny (Moscow)
Hi Aaron,
Came across this through a Google search today, was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.
Have a great day,
Doug
Hello Aaron, Thank you for this! BTW do you have a similar tipp for the vCenter 6.x appliance?
I will investigate and post the results, most likely will be a new post. But I’ll comment a link to it.
Aaron,
Looks like the key_EvaluationExpiryDate value in the /etc/vmware-vpx/vpxd.cfg might potentially be the value to reset Vcenter times in 5.5. I imagine 6.x is likely the same. It’s a long hash value that I have no idea how to convert to a date time stamp, but perhaps if it is figured out it could be reset. Sorry for resurrecting an old thread.
Have you found a solution? Cheers!
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Hi, you also need to restart the hostd service, otherwise VM’s may fail to power on.
/etc/init.d/hostd restart
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I’ve tried this before and I had to reboot the server that my ESXi lives on about 6x’s. Has anyone else had the same experience?
seems to be no longer working on esx 6.7 file .#licence.cfg is missing, I can’t copy it once i deleted the licence…
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Hi there, tried this and it worked great, but the problem now is we can’t do a SSH connection to the server? any idea?
it works with me only if i remove the host from inventory after the operation then add it again
I had to restart the entire ESXi, but it worked and saved me half a day of installation.
Worked like a champ on ESX 6.7. I did reboot after the process.
Very useful and simply explained solution.
Thank you Aaron !
Thank you!
I do the same and able to extend the evaluation period but after one day I am unable to log in to the ESXi web server as user name password authentication error. using the same password. need your help.
commands i used:
rm -r /etc/vmware/license.cfg
cp /etc/vmware/.#license.cfg /etc/vmware/license.cfg
/etc/init.d/vpxa restart
Yes, once you reboot, the evaluation license reset takes place for another 60 days. It works. Thank you.
Thank you very much, script worked!
Works with 7.0.x?
This works like a charm. It worked for me guys. For how long can one keep on extending the license key like this before it reject this evaluation license?
I am not sure how many times a reset of the evaluation license can be done. I have only needed to reset my license one time.
Excellent thread. Saved lots of efforts in reinstalling my esxi
Does anyone know how to reset the vSphere Vcenter 7 license?
I have yet to find a way, because of the heavy use of databases and many systems that make up vCenter it would take a bunch of time to reverse engineer their system.
Perfect!!!!! The SSH service was not running on my test server but once I started that, it worked fine. Thx!!!!