VMware: Cannot remove a License Key from VMware vCenter Server

Last week I upgraded a vCenter Server from version 5.1 to 5.5, I also added a 4th hosts to the cluster, so I need to upgrade the host license keys. But after upgrade I couldn’t remove the license files in vCenter Licensing section:

Solution:

To connect to the ADAM database:

1. Log in to the vCenter Server.
2. To open ADSI Edit, click Start > Run, type adsiedit.msc, and press Enter.
3. Right-click ADSI Edit and click Connect to.
4. In the Connection point section, click Select or type a Distinguished Name or Naming Context.
5. Enter dc=virtualcenter, dc=vmware, dc=int
6. In the Computer section, click Select or type a domain or server: (Server | Domain [:port]).
7. Enter localhost
8. Click OK.
9. Drill down to DC=virtualcenter,DC=vmware,DC=int, OU=Licensing, OU=LicenseEntities.You see the CN="license key" containers.
10. Right-click the container that shows the the serial number of the key that is negative within the vCenter Server Licensing page.
11. Click Delete.

Result:

When you restart he vSphere client and navigate to the Licensing page the old license keys are removed and you can re-assign license keys to the hosts

More information: VMware

About Author

Sander

Sander Daems is founder and author of this blog and working as a Lead (Sr.) Consultant / Technical Project Lead at Unica ICT Solutions. Sander has 15+ years experience in IT, primary focus: virtualization, security and modern worksplace.

See author's posts