VMware ESXi 4.0.0 – How to reset 60 day free trial license

RZFeeser - VMware ESXi logo

Enjoying ESXi 4.0.0, but found your license key has expired? In two minutes, you can extend your license for another 60 days! Do remember, that why this is helpful for trial purposes, you are still lacking access to critical updates (such as patches that allow vSphere Client to operate in the presence of the latest version of Microsoft .NET). So enjoy, but don’t expect this little hack to get you out of eventually buying a license!

• Sit down at the server on which ESXi is running. No need to log-in. Simply press Alt+F1, and you will enter a screen that reads “ESXi 4.0 http://www.vmware.com Copyright (c) 2007-2009 VMware, Inc.”, it may even display some other text, such as, “* Failed to load tpm”

• Although no CLI is displayed, type the word unsupported

• Now you’ll be prompted for a password. Enter the password that normally logs you in as the root. If successful, you’ll be rewarded with CLI access

• Type the following

• cd /etc/vmware

• rm vmware.lic

• rm license.cfg

• Reboot ESXi 4.0