ESXi 6.7 free license

[tnkrer]

I had a working ESXi 6.7 set up. The flash drive used to run the ESXi died on me. So I had to reinstall ESXi on a new flash drive. All of that is working well.
The ESXi install tells me that I have 40 odd days left before the license expires. From what I have read, after the expiry, I will not be able to start the VMs or create new VMs. I had registered ESXi 6.5 I think and gotten the license, but that license key is lost, since I do not have it backed up or saved anywhere

So I tried to go to vmware to my account to see if I have the key there. I don't see it in my account anywhere. I tried to get a new key, VMware will only give me new keys to 7.0 and 8.0 . And I tried the key I got for 7.0, but that did not work.
Is there a way to get free license key for 6.7 anymore?
Thanks!
( I am not sure that I can successfully upgrade to 7.0. I have a Dell T20 and I remember reading that the customized image 6.7U3 was the last one that will work with this server and the dell H310 crossflashed card)

 

[i386]

Is there a way to get free license key for 6.7 anymore?

yes, but they shady if not illegal...

 

[BoredSysadmin]

If you purchased an ESXi license, it's permanent. You could run a free ESXi version or a trial one or give a shot to running it in eval mode and running this script every 60 days if it's not in a production environment (home lab isn't production)

Reset ESXi Evaluation License - Marte-IT

With a VMware ESXi Evaluation license you are able to test all features which are also included in the Enterprise Plus license (vMotion, HA, DRS,…

marte-it.at

You could also subscribe to VMWare VMUG Advantage for $200/year and have access to all VMware products in the home lab 100% legally.

 

[Rand__]

You could also subscribe to VMWare VMUG Advantage for $200/year and have access to all VMware products in the home lab 100% legally.

All current products, you can't get older stuff if they delisted it, nor do they provide licenses for you to keep you installs running after delisting

 

[BoredSysadmin]

All current products, you can't get older stuff if they delisted it, nor do they provide licenses for you to keep you installs running after delisting

you apparently missed my first sentence. They won't delist it just because it's not current or out of support. You bought the license you keep it. Upgrading the license may or may not be possible, but they won't just delist it. I still have access to my company's VMware licensing portal to vshpere 6 license keys. (Sorry, I can't share them)

 

[Rand__]

I was talking about vmug only

 

[oneplane]

Might be easier to just move the VMs to Proxmox at this point.

 

[tnkrer]

I have a homelab with one file server for home photos/documents etc and one or more linux machines for any experimentation I might do. So do not have any paid licenses for VMWare

Thanks! I guess I have to think through multiple annoying options here
1. Try to upgrade to 7.0 and see if things work out. Save the 7.0 ESXi license key somewhere safe
- Looks like I will have to go to Perc H710 card. H310 does not work with ESXi 6.7
2. Find out more about "shady if not illegal" options.
3. Reset eval license every 60 days.
4. Learn what Proxmax is and what that path looks like

 

[BennyT]

Regarding VMUG. The VMUG Advantage online store still has the 6.x vsphere license keys available, but they won't say for how much longer. They could be there for another 5 yrs or they could drop off tomorrow.


VMUG Advantage is $200 for one year and that would get you the license keys for one year. If you purchase a multiyear VMUG Advantage membership it's 2 yr $360 or 3 yr for $510. You can use discount coupon found at tinkertry.com and other such blogs to further lower the cost.

Also, they had a bug when purchasing the memberships. At checkout if you selected to purchase 3 yr membership they still only charged for 1 yr. Not sure if they fixed that yet, but it had been a bug for a long time.


The license keys for vSphere are still for only 1 yr even if you have a multiyear VMUG membership. Each year you would login to VMUG Advantage store and download another 1 yr license key (there is roughly a 4-7 week grace period to obtain the new key before the old one expires). And hope your 6.x keys are still available in the VMUG online shopping list.



The problem is that VMUG will not say when a particular product version will drop off from their online store. The VMUG keys are not perpetual and next year you may not get another 6.7 key, but as of now you'd get through at least another year and perhaps longer if they keep 6.x in their store. You could use that time to upgrade whatever NIC or HBA, to be compatible with v7.

The best solution, in my opinion, would be to purchase a perpetual vSphere Essentials Kit license from VMware (not vmug). Those keys won't expire. You'd get the license for up to 3 ESXi hosts, each having up to 2 sockets each. That Essentials kit also comes with vCenter Server Essentials license. However, you do not get vSAN, vMotion or HA,etc in the Essentials Kit. Also-Note: vSphere Essentials Kit are not expandable, meaning you can't add on beyond the 3 hosts, you would have to purchase an additional kit). Those would be perpetual keys and you'd be locked in. You can find vsphere essentials kit for vSphere5, vSphere6 from stores such as CDW or ProVantage, or you can get v7 and v8 versions of the kit directly from VMware. It's about $600 USD for the Essentials Kit. Not "free", but you get real keys that won't expire. Just don't lose your keys .

I'd check if you are compatible with v7 and upgrade to vSphere Essentials v7

 

[tnkrer]

BennyT, thank you very much for the detailed information about various options. I am thinking that my Dell T20 is also getting old, so its time to upgrade hardware and with that go to ESXi7.0 or ESXi8.0. I think that I will do this upgrade within next 4-6 months. So I am going to use the "reset eval license every 60 days" option for my 6.7 and then for ESXi 7.0 ( or possibly 8.0) - perpetual license seems like a good option.

 

[dswartz]

If you purchased an ESXi license, it's permanent. You could run a free ESXi version or a trial one or give a shot to running it in eval mode and running this script every 60 days if it's not in a production environment (home lab isn't production)

Reset ESXi Evaluation License - Marte-IT

With a VMware ESXi Evaluation license you are able to test all features which are also included in the Enterprise Plus license (vMotion, HA, DRS,…

marte-it.at

You could also subscribe to VMWare VMUG Advantage for $200/year and have access to all VMware products in the home lab 100% legally.

I've been using VMUG for a home lab with 3 servers, with VSAN storage on NVME cards. No regrets.

 

[BloodKnight7]

There is a version for free ESXi. If you really had previously downloaded the free version of ESXi 6.7 here are the steps for you to recover it.

Viewing the License for free Hypervisor (ESXi 6.x & 7.x):
- Log in to Customer Connect. Click Products and select My Download History.
- Click + under VMware vSphere Hypervisor to open the details of the product. Im putting a screenshot of my account so you can see where you can locate it.

 

[Octopuss]

A semi-related question: is there any kind of ESXi licence one can buy as an individual that doesn't cost like $10000 or something?
I know there are several editions, but I kind of got used to the vCenter too much to be able to live without it.

Yes, I don't have a legal licence atm, what a horrible person.

 

[BloodKnight7]

You could buy the vmug advantage yearly suscription, it will entitle you to use the products for 1 year for learning/demo purposes. Its a cool suscription.

Now you could also look into the vsphere essentials kit... if memory serves me well its around 500-600 bucks and then you are able to use it for business/production.

 

[Octopuss]

Well I only run a home server with 3 VMs, 500 bucks is a lot to digest, but this not being a product aimed at individuals, I guess I'm out of luck.

 

[BloodKnight7]

Get the VMUG suscription, it's good value for all you get. It's about 200 bucks.

 

[BoredSysadmin]

Well I only run a home server with 3 VMs, 500 bucks is a lot to digest, but this not being a product aimed at individuals, I guess I'm out of luck.

vmug costs $200/year or less on BF sales. If you don't mind trying something else, Nutanix CE provides most of vSphere+vsan (and more) functionality - ie: Running VMs and virtual storage. It's simple to use and manage. It's free for up to 4 nodes. The downside includes higher memory requirements.
You could also try free ProxMox, which seems very popular here.

Another option would be to run your VMs right on a home NAS. Like Synology DS923+. Just max the memory (32gb or likely even 64gb should work)
add pair of decent NVMe drives for caching, and you'd be golden.

 

[Octopuss]

I definitely want to stick with ESXi.
Some $200 subscription for a year makes no sense when you can have lifetime for 500.
I guess there is no grey area 2nd hand market for keys, hm?

 

[BoredSysadmin]

$500 vSphere essential kit is limited, it doesn't include vmotion nor HA. You'd need to spend $4.6k On Essentials Plus to get these.
As for the "Gray" market, afaik - VMware doesn't allow legal reselling of software licenses (and yes, I know it is legal in EU) - eBay is chuck full of "gray" VMware licenses, but you might as well find them online without paying many to shady characters...

 

[BloodKnight7]

Theoretically there should not be 2nd hand market keys... not after pressing the I accept on those terms of service that no one reads.... but that's only theoretical. The is no real way to prevent it.

There are sites in the internet that offer cheap, very cheap vsphere licenses but I don't endorse any or am I even sure about the legality of such practice or if it's legit. You can find those with a simple Google search.