Remove vSphere Web Client Evaluation Mode License

[rwrussell]

We recently installed vCenter Server Appliance to replace the existing vCenter server.  It automatically installs a Evaluation Mode license and then gives warnings that licenses are about to expire.  Since we already own an Enterprise license, we added these licenses to the new vCenter server and then added the existing hosts to the new vCenter server.  The hosts were added to the correct license key and the vCenter server was added to the correct license key.  The Evaluation Mode license now has a 0 usage.  Everything is working correctly except that the eval license is still sitting there and we are still getting warnings.  It appears that the only way to get rid of this is to upgrade the eval license to a purchased license, but we don't need to upgrade since we already have a valid Enterprise license.

How can we remove the eval license and remove the warnings that this is generating?

[f10]

Did you explore the the following option in vCenter?

Home > Licensing > Product > Evaluation Mode > Right Click vCenter and click on Change License Key

-f10

[rwrussell]

Thanks for the reply.  Yes, that's exactly how we reassigned the vCenter server to the purchased vCenter Server key.  However, now the Evaulation license is still sitting there with 0 usage but we are still getting expiry notices for it.

[f10]

Did you already this KB VMware KB: Cannot remove the license key from vCenter Server ?

Also can you please share the screenshot, **off course without** the license keys :smileyhappy:

[rwrussell]

Thanks for the reply.  Here's the screenshot showing the Eval license with 0 usage and the vCenter applied to a different license.  Also note that this is vCenter Web Appliance and not a Windows machine so the Knowledge Base article doesn't really apply as they are asking to install Windows apps to update a stale database.

[a_p_]

You should have the option to add or remove license keys on the "License Keys" tab. Anyway, it looks like you picked the wrong license for the vCenter Server. In order to manage ESXi hosts with Enterprise Plus licenses you need to license the vCenter Server with the "vCenter Server Standard" license. Once you picked the proper license, log out of the web client and re-login.

André

[rwrussell]

Thanks for the info.  I changed the vCenter license to the Standard.  However, I still cannot remove the Eval license.  The remove license key option is grayed out everywhere for the Eval license.  I CAN however remove any of the license keys that have a zero usage.

[a_p_]

The "Evaluation Mode" license is not really a license, but more a default entry used for unlicensed systems. As you can see in the License Keys tab, it shows up with "(No License Key)". Once you have assigned a valid license to each product, you should not see the evaluation warning anymore.

André

[EryEdson278]

Hello guys,

To solve this issue, do the following:

1. On the license section, select the vcenter instance with the evaluation license.

2. Click on Actions.

3. Select Assign License, as shown in the print screen below.

4. Assign the correct license on the License Windows.

Kind regards

Edson Silva

[LancePawnee]

Hello,

This does not work as I get the error that the licensing is controlled by the vCenter server.  I have a license added but the host will not stop using the evaluation license.

Very frustrating.

[Eromose]

Please, can someone state how this was resolved?

[MWhitley9999]

I had a cluster defined. My licenses do not include clustering. I deleted the cluster and the eval license disappeared.

[IRIX201110141]

It has nothing to do with the cluster rather than the options you may have enabled on top of your cluster aka. HA/DRS. Even when only having a Essentials we create the cluster sometimes because of easier enabling EVC or when it comes of dealing with a block storage SAN.

Regards,
Joerg

[harsha219]

If anyone else doesn't understand on how to remove, these are the simple steps:

Navigate to Administration > Licenses > Assets. Go to each tab under Assets and check for products that have evaluation license and assign proper license to them. Make sure that no product under assets is assigned with evaluation license. Then, the evaluation license would be auto-removed from Licenses.