Is it possible to assign Essentials Kit vSphere 7 license to free licensed hypervisor ESXi 6.5?

[ndmuser]

I am trying to assign Essentials Kit vSphere 7 license to free licensed hypervisor ESXi 6.5. I got 'Please provide a valid license key' error message when I clicked on 'Check license' button.

Do I need to remove existing free hypervisor license from the host first, and then assign Essentials Kit vSphere 7 license? Or is it problem with versions, and I cannot apply vSphere 7 Essentials Kit license to 6.5 free hypervisor?

Thank you for any advice and help!

[daphnissov]

You cannot assign a key for 7.x to a 6.x host. You will have to downgrade the license in order to do that (through your MyVMware portal).

[TimSheppard · Accepted solution]

When a new version of a product is released, the older versions are no longer available for purchase. Downgrading a license key allows you to use an older version of a product. If you downgrade a license key, you can revert to the newer version by upgrading the license key.

How to downgrade license keys in My VMware - VMware Knowledge Base

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[IRIX201110141]

Read this: Downgrade a Licence

And than you can swap the license without downtime, reboot or reinstall.

Regards,
Joerg