ESXI 6.5 Free License ?

[COSYNLTD]

ESXI 6.5 Free License ?

[Paltelkalpesh]

Hi,

you can download trial version of ESXI 6.5 from following website.

Download VMware vSphere

[RJB3ST]

Hello,

Please see the following link which explains how to get a free ESXi license key.

Free ESXi 6.5 – How to Download and get License Keys | Virten.net

It is also worth reading the limitations at the top of the page, to ensure the free key will be suitable for you.

Kind Regards,

RJ

[PawelZodiac]

The anser is.... you have to contact customer services who in my case were happy to provide free licence within 10 minutes. They said you can't get it in any other way nowadays.

[athompson88]

I notice that the only version available for download with my 6 license is 6.5.0a from 2017-02-02. Does this mean that the free license will no longer includes "Update" releases since Update 1 is now available? Or do I need to contact support to get a different key?

[qhash]

Same here.

Anyone from VMWare willing to respond?

[ibrahimaa]

Dear Sir,

I can't download  ESXi 6.5 free license.

Kindly can you allow me?

Best regards

Ibrahim Alghadeer

[e-mail]

[JohnDoepamin]

The solution that I found is to

1. register for an evaluation of the non free version Download VMware vSphere

2. download the evaluation and install

3. activate with your free esxi license key

I beleive this should be an alirght approach, as otherwise the license key i m using should not be activeable in trail version I downloaded.

KR, Chris

[Angenito]

Dear Brothe

I had some problem with WMware Exsi 6.5

When I had to deployed APp is finished

Storage have some status like picture bellow

[A13x]

Angenito A bit of a late post but is this a HP server? if so is there any reason why you did not use the HPE Custom ESXi ISO and is the server / device and drivers on VMwares compatibility list?

[theaaronstrong]

Attached is the KB article to get a free license:

Downloading and licensing vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 6.x) (2107518) | VMware KB

[athompson88]

Yes, this is the approach I've used, but all that is shown on the page referred to under "Viewing the License for free Hypervisor (ESXi 6.x)" is the following:

VMware vSphere Hypervisor 6.5
Download Center

License Informaiton

VMware vSphere Hypervisor 6 License XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXX

Download Packages

VMware vSphere Hypervisor 6.5.0a - Binaries

VMware vSphere Hypervisor 6.0 Update 2 - Binaries

VMware vSphere Hypervisor 6.0 Update 1 - Binaries

VMware vSphere Hypervisor 6.0 - Binaries

I would have expected for Hypervisor 6.5 Update 1 to show up in the list, unless an additional license is needed to go beyond 6.5.0.a.

[theaaronstrong]

I thought, if you could get your hands on the ISO file for an ESXi host, you get 60 days free. That's why vCenter works. You get 60 days with a full Enterprise Plus functionality.

If you're looking at running this in a lab, you can look at William Lam's site. He has multiple OVAs of both ESXi and vCenter.

http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2017/05/updated-nested-esxi-6-0u3-6-5d-virtual-appliances.html

[athompson88]

I think there's a disconnect here. I'm an enthusiast running a free version of ESXi to house various VMs that are up 24x7 to provide services for my home network and locally hosted apps. The box I built started out as 4.1 back in 2011. I've been upgrading it since and am now running 6.0u2 on that same hardware. So a 60-day trial isn't going to work for me. My license is free, with no time-limit, but also no vCenter. Typically I don't upgrade until at least "Update 1" is released. I expected them to release an "Update 1" for my free license, but all they have is 6.5.0a. That's why I was asking if I needed to obtain an updated "free" license (different from trial) to access further 6.5 updates. Or if those updates were even forthcoming from vmware for their free license.

Along those same lines, William Lam's appliances are all nested, which isn't applicable to what I'm talking about here. He does provide excellent scripts and insight though. I've been using his local cron-based backup script to facilitate weekly backups of my VMs and ESXi configuration to my NAS for well over a year now.

[M4T]

When you go onto the VMware website to download esxi 6.5 u1 it gives u a free license number to enter on the esxi web interface after you have installed it. But it wasn’t what I expected it only let’s you create a VM with 8vcpu to get more you need to buy a license I bought one for £580 that includes 3 hosts and 1 vcenter server.

[athompson88]

I think there's also a time limit associated with the license that is provided during the download process you describe. Is that not the case?

[vjekobalas]

I think I read all the above posts slowly enough but the answer is still not clear.
I have the esxi/free license and on my vmware download page, the newest
version which I can download is 6.5.0a (as per the user above)- which is 3 versions behind the latest.
Does vmware have an official answer on how one can obtain the esxi/free
latest version and whether the free license that one already has is still valid ?

[TomHowarth]

M4T answered your question, yes there is a free ESXi 6.5U1,  but there are new limitations to the usage of it.  as long as you do not have a requirement of VM's greater the 8vCPU (Socket or Core) then it will work as previously.

as an alterantive you could just purchase an annually subscription to VMUG Advantange and gain access to a large majority of VMware products.

[vjekobalas]

Thanks, but that is not answering my question - let me rephrase: If I am satisfied to use the free version
with it's limitations, how do I get the latest version eg. 6.5.d or newer ? At the moment, when I go to
my download area, 6.5.a is the latest/newest version listed.

[TomHowarth]

Download the latest version from the link below

Download VMware vSphere

and just license it in the normal way.

Download VMware vSphere Hypervisor for Free

I am struggling to understand your problem.

[vjekobalas]

Thanks for taking the time to answer.
The confusion for me comes from the fact that the whole
procedure is not intuitively built into the web interface.

I assumed that I would simply do the following to get the
newest version:

log in to my vmware -> Products -> Trial and free products
and next to "Download Free products", I click on "VmWare vSphere
Hypervisor (64bit). This results in a list of all already downloaded versions
and not all available versions.

So that I'm clear for the future, could you clarify which download
link is that ? - is it vmware ->downloads ->VmWare vSphere ->Download Product ->
Standard ->go to downloads (BTW Essential version has the same file size) ?

& when do you need to ask for a new license ?

[TomHowarth]

I am not 100% certain as I do not use the Free Hypervisor license. but all 6.x versions should be valid for both major, minor and update packs.

that said, the process to request a new license is not particularly onerous.

[vjekobalas]

I spoke out too early about your link - I get this message there:

"You either are not entitled or do not have permissions to download this product.

Check with your My VMware Super User, Procurement Contact or Administrator."

so, I'll send a query to vmware.

[vjekobalas]

I wrote a message to vmware support and got a phone call about half an hour later :smileywink:
The latest version of the free /esxi are not available - 6.5.0a is the latest version

[athompson88]

I also got the "You either are not entitled or do not have permissions to download this product. Check with your My VMware Super User, Procurement Contact or Administrator." message when I try to download the 6.5u1 version. Couldn't figure a way to get past this. Regardless, I thought the version through this channel fell under the "trial" license, which after 90 days or so deactivates.

When vmware responded, did they give any indication of the free hypervisor license seeing any updates past 6.5.0a?

[dtrounce]

With the free license, you can’t currently download any version to install later than 6.5.0a, but you can install that and then use ESXCLI to update it to 6.5.0 Update 1, the latest version currently available. I‘ve done it on two hosts and it works perfectly with the free license code. It takes about 10 minutes and a reboot.

instructions here: How to easily update your VMware Hypervisor from 6.5.x to 6.5 Update 1 (ESXi 6.5 U1) | TinkerTry IT @ Home

[bgwallace]

Hey athompson88,

Were you able to find a solution to this issue?  I'm also unable to download the free 6.5.0 U1.  The latest update I can download is 6.5.0a which I can get from the link below.

https://my.vmware.com/en/group/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi6

If I go to the link below and try to download 6.5.0 U1, I get the an error message which I've also included.

https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?productId=614&download=true&fileId=6d71ca1a8c12d73ca75952f411d16dc7&securePar…

You either are not entitled or do not have permissions to download this product.

Check with your My VMware Super User, Procurement Contact or Administrator.

If you recently purchased this product through VMware Store or through a third-party, try downloading later.

This is quite the cumbersome upgrade process VMware has put together.  Any assistance you can offer on what exactly is needed to download the free 6.5.0 U1 update would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Brad

[vjekobalas]

I hven't tried to patch as per wizdude's info, but I did get the latest version using
the procedure behind the link I included above and then use old license.

[bgwallace]

I was able to get the latest update installed using the article dtrounce shared and the helpful info wizdude shared.  I put together my own notes which I've included below in case they're helpful for anyone else.

Thanks,
Brad

Instructions

• Open an SSH console to the ESXi server.
• Run the command below to get a list of the latest updates/patches for ESXi 6.5.* sorted by most recent to least recent.  If, however, the return output doesn't include creation and modified datetime stamp columns on the far right, keep running the command until those columns display.  Once they're displayed, the top result is the most recent update.

esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml | grep -E '^ESXi-6\.5\..*-[0-9]+-standard.*$' | sort -k4 -r

• If you want, you can get the details of the latest update by running the command below.  Substitute <ProfileName> with the most recent update from the previous command.

esxcli software sources profile get -p <ProfileName> -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

• To install the latest update, run the commands below.  You should ensure all VMs are either shutdown before rebooting or set to gracefully shutdown on reboot.  Additionally, you may or may not need to enable maintenance mode during this time.  I didn't need this as I'm the only one making changes.

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient

esxcli software profile update -p <ProfileName> -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

reboot

[qZzZp]

https://my.vmware.com/en/group/vmware/evalcenter?p=vsphere-6

[timobiz]

i think this process works Free ESXi 6.5 – How to Download and get License Keys | Virten.net

[vjekobalas]

https://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer-ps.html

[wizdude]

there is a lot of confusion here, so let's straighten this out.

- there is no code/binary difference between "vSphere ESXi" and "VMware Hypervisor" or "VMware Free Hypervisor". it's one and the same thing. the feature set is controlled by the license key that you use.

- the free hypervisor license is "VMware vSphere Hypervisor 6 License". this covers 6.0 and 6.5 with all patches

- for any release of ESXi there is not always going to be a new ISO file cut. sometimes you need to patch to get the latest code.

- patches are available from https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/patch​

- there are patches (released in december 2017) which are newer than update 1 (released in july 2017)

- regardless if you start with 6.5.0a or 6.5U1 you still need to patch if you want the latest release.

at this point in time, the free hypervisor download has an ISO for 6.5.0a only. you can download and install this, and then patch it up to the current release.

alternatively you can download the "trial" version of 6.5U1 in order to get the latest ISO and use your free hypervisor license. if you want the latest code, you will still need to patch it up.

you could also take the advantage to download one of the "Custom ISOs" if you have a HP, IBM, Lenovo etc server and want an ISO with embedded hardware support for your platform.

in most situations, the Custom ISOs aren't the latest release and require patching.

i hope this helps.

cheers, wizdude.

[TomHowarth]

You should just be able to download the binaries and then license with a vSphere Free 6 license.  There are no differences between the files contained in ESXi 6.5 Enterprise Plus edition and the Free Hypervisor.  it is down to the activated license to allow or deny access to features.

your vSphere 6 license will license 6.5, 6.51 and any other point between upto but not including vSphere 7 if and when it is released.

just download the latest version 6.5.1 or one of the customised ones if you have HP, Dell etc.  and add your license key.

as already stated you will need to patch.

[EricChigoz]

Hello,

Once you make a new installation, you are free to try the product for 60 days.

Thank you.

[MoulineK]

Access this link : https://my.vmware.com/en/group/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi6&src=vmw_so_vex_vsege_604
And read this article :

https://www.vladan.fr/apply-vmware-free-license-vmware-esxi/

[carmamir]

Go with Proxmox, ESXI will eventually fatally crash. I did the same thing during last 12 months on 3 different HP Gen8 servers.

Don't bother, it is full of bugs, issues and lame developers won't rectify it. (only the worst devs are working at VMware, I have worked with one of past devs and he admitted that his poor skill set and coding quality was one of the best back at the VMware (he was demoted to junior dev and fired for horrific quality of his code)).

We are in a middle of transferring all our servers to Proxmox which is a super fast breeze and it is free with all "enterprise" features.

[ragman2023]

Hi Together,

where can i register a free license for v6.5? I always get redirected to v7.

THX

[michaelmo666]

Same here - in 2023 i am always redireected to version 7 (that not works for 6.5)

[Scott Vessey]

You can’t get 6.x now since those versions are no longer supported.

[michaelmo666]

Free version didnt have any support included anyway. My hardware can't run any newer version, what sould I do?

[Kinnison]

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