Upgrade a licenced version of ESX to a Free version.

[SENNAF1]

I have an ESX 4.1 Licensed version and need to change it to ESXi 5.x free version.  I have 1VM on the host and need to keep it.  Does anyone know if I can upgrade from a licensed version to a free version and keeping the VM intact.

[a_p_]

Upgrading to ESXi 5.x requires to add a new license key anyway and if your host does not have more than 32GB physical memory and you don't have any features in use, which are not included in the free Hypervisor edition, you can enter the free license key.

If there are issues with active features (like Host-Agent, vMotion, ...) you could upgrade to ESXi 5.x selecting "Install, preserve VMFS". This will install a clean ESXi, but preserve the datastore and you will just need to re-register the VM to the Inventory (right-click the .vmx file in the datastore) after configuring the host options, like networking, NTP, ...

André

[SENNAF1]

If I understand you correctly,  can I follow these steps.

I have a host [ESXi 4.1 U3] with CPUs and 32GB of RAM connected to vCenter 4.1 U3 and not in a cluster.

1. Disconnect it from vCenter
   
2. Connect directly to the host using vSphere client
   
3. Apply my ESXi 5.1 FREE license key.
   

If I want to at a  later date I can upgrade my host to the free version of ESXi 5.x

is this correct?

[a_p_]

Not exactly. For ESXi 4.1 you need a 4.x license key. The 5.x license key can only be entered after upgrading to version 5.x.

André

[SENNAF1]

Thank you both for the information.   You saved me alot time researching and testing this solution.

[sparrowangelste]

you can also export the vm to ovf/ova then import it again later after you reinstall esxi 5

it also makes a good backup in case you dont have one.