This displays the installed license serial, product name, and expiration date.
vim-cmd vimsvc/license/set_license XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX Use code with caution. Method B: Using esxcli
Get-Cluster -Name <cluster_name> | Get-VMHost | Set-VMHost -LicenseKey "XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX"
The primary tool for license management in the vSphere ecosystem via CLI is vcenter license key command line
If your evaluation period has completely expired and the UI is locked, the vapi-cli tool may throw an authentication error. If this occurs, restart the vCenter services via service-control --stop --all and service-control --start --all to force a grace period reload.
For automatically licensing new hosts added to a specific data center or cluster (a must for vSphere Auto Deploy environments):
To see which license key is currently assigned to a specific ESXi host managed by vCenter, you can retrieve the LicenseKey property of the host object. This command directly links a host to its assigned license. This displays the installed license serial, product name,
vCenter assign license key - Powershell script . 2. Assign a License Key to the vCenter Instance
$licMgr = Get-View LicenseManager $licMgr.AddLicense("XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX", $null) Use code with caution.
If your ESXi host evaluation has expired and vCenter won't start, use this on the SSH: If this occurs, restart the vCenter services via
PowerCLI is the superior tool for modern administration.
Replace XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX with your actual license key. Restart the vCenter Service
Remove-VMwareLicense -LicenseKey "XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX"