Extract VMware License info from "dead" VCenter

[vThornes]

Hi,

I've inherited a client with a VSphere 6.5 installation. Their VCenter server died, so I set up a new one, but couldn't save the license info from the old one. Unfortunately nobody knows which email was used to register the licenses either, it's possibly someone who left the company a while ago.

I have a veeam backup of the old VCenter, but when I restore I cannot get into the web client because of certificate issues. I've tried everything I can think of to fix this, but so far no luck. I have root access to the VCenter appliance itself, is there any way to extract the license keys from the database?

[scott28tt]

Not sure if this is the best approach, but I would suggest for the customer to do the following:

1. Create a MyVMware account using an email account from the same domain

2. Login

3. From the MyVMware home screen, click Get Support from the Quick Links section to the right of the page

4. Select License Key Management from the Non-Technical section

5. Start a chat or raise an incident

[amohammadimir]

Are you able to connect to the vCenter server via PowerCLI?

If the answer is yes, try this:

$serviceInstance = Get-View ServiceInstance

$licenseman = Get-View ($ServiceInstance | Select -First 1).Content.LicenseManager

$licenseman | Select -ExpandProperty Licenses

[vThornes]

Unfortunately not, giving me certificate errors in powerCLI as well, and won't let me connect.

[amohammadimir]

What errors do you get?