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esxiuser4412
Contributor
Contributor

ESXI Shell - VM Fails to Power On (ERROR From Hostd Log: "CheckLicenses: ha-license-manager failed power check")

Hello All,

BLUF: All of my VMs fail to power on from ESXI 6.5 host's shell.  Only have access to host shell as one of my VMs (PFSense VM) provides DHCP services to network/ESXI host.

Background: Mid day lost my virtual router (assuming it powered off at that time).  I was not on the network or changing any settings in ESXI or in VMs. 

Attempted Fix so Far:

Attempted to power on PFsense router with the following command:

     vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on 2

     Power on failed

Attempted to power on Windows 10 virtual client:

     vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on 4

     Power on failed

Log Output From "vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on 2" command:

     233Z...     info...          State Transition (VM_STATE_OFF -> VM_STATE_ON)

     233Z...     info...          SIOC is notified not to start injector

     233Z...     verbose...   RecordOp ASSIGN: idisabledMethod, 2. Sent notification immediately

     233Z...     verbose...   RecordOp ASSIGN: info.cancelable, haTask2-vim.VirtualMachine.powerOn-154372925. Applied change to temp map

     233Z...     verbose...   RecordOp ASSIGN: info.cancelable, haTask2-vim.VirtualMachine.powerOn-154372925. Applied change to temp map

     238Z...     info...          Could not expand environment variable HOME.

     245Z...     error...        CheckLicenses: ha-license-manager failed power check

     245Z...     info...          Decremented SIOC Injector Flag2

     245Z...     warning...   Failed operation

     ...

     246Z...     info...         Cannot power on PFSense-EdgeRouter-1 on esxi in ha-datacenter.  A general system error occurred:

     246Z...     info...         State Transition (VM_STATE_POWERING_ON -> VM_STATE_OFF)

Any recommendations on what this means?  What to try next? 

Any help is appreciated!

3 Replies
SupreetK
Commander
Commander

Is the vmware.log (it will be in the VM folder by default) getting updated during the attempted power on operation? If yes, can you share the latest vmware.log files for two affected VMs and the hostd.log from the host?

Cheers,

Supreet

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esxiuser4412
Contributor
Contributor

The issue was my ESXi Evaluation license expired after the 60 day evaluation period which is why the "CheckLicenses: ha-license-manager failed power check" error occurred.

This error can be fixed for homelab setups via:

https://calvin.me/reset-esxi-evaluation-license/

(Allows you to obtain another evaluation license for 60 days for homelab use)

SupreetK
Commander
Commander

Was assuming the same based on the HA license manager error. However, wanted to confirm the same from the logs. Glad you could find that yourself. Thanks for sharing the update Smiley Happy

Cheers,

Supreet

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