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Pascone
Contributor
Contributor

Free Esxi Keys

My last company we had several hosts with free versions of ESx, they were very limited and when the time came and we had money we bought VmWare. I am at a new company and we are in a similar situation. No money right now but have a need for vMware. I downloaded and installed ESXi 5.1u and it's telling me it's going to expire in 60 days. Can I request a trial key like I had before?

Thanks!

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weinstein5
Immortal
Immortal

Welcome to the Community - This has the information on how to download the free license - http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor/overview.html

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vFantastic
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

The full Ent Plus version is automatically run for 60 days in Eval Mode. When it expires the the feature sets that require licensing will be disabled, HA, DRS, vMotion, etc.. After the 60 days your ESXi host will continue to run as standalone.

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weinstein5
Immortal
Immortal

NOt quite - once the 60 day evaluation you will need to license the ESXi host they do not switch automatically switch to the Free Stanadolone license -

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TomHowarth
Leadership
Leadership

That is not correct,  the host will continue to run VMs that are currently running, but will not allow you to create or start machine that are new or powered off until a new license in installed.

Tom Howarth VCP / VCAP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: http://www.planetvm.net
Contributing author on VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment
Contributing author on VCP VMware Certified Professional on VSphere 4 Study Guide: Exam VCP-410
Pascone
Contributor
Contributor

Well guys, can I reach out to someone and get a trial key? I had one before, it was limited in RAM and CPUs but it got us started up until we were able to buy essentials plus.

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weinstein5
Immortal
Immortal

Check this link - - http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor/overview.html - this provide the information on how to register the Free Hypervisor and to obtain license keys of your own

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jmadams
Contributor
Contributor

If you downloaded ESXi from VMware directly, your license key should be right above the blue "Start Download Manager" button for downloading the ISO image.

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