Interestingly, the description for the ISO file is slightly different but I’m probably being somewhat paranoid.įigure 3 – ESXi ISO file download and license information page (from the eval page) As I thought, the 2 ISO files are identical.

Out of curiosity, I downloaded the ESXi 6.5.0a ISO from the evaluation center page just to compare it to the one downloaded from the free hypervisor link given above. For some reason, you can only download earlier releases which, for the purpose of this post, happens to be 6.5.0 a.įigure 2 – ESXi ISO file download and license information page Any ISO file differences? Note: At the time of writing, 6.5.0.d is the most recent update. Also, make sure to note down the license key listed under License Information (Fig. Step 2 – Click on the Manually Download button to download the ESXi ISO image as shown in Fig.2. If you do, sign in and proceed to the download area. Step 1 – Browse to this link and create an account if you don’t have one. How to download ESXi and get a free license So, today I’ve tasked myself with testing these restrictions to verify once and for all, whether they hold true or not. The fact that I work at Altaro, a software company that writes great VMware and Hyper-V backup software, was enough of a compelling reason to try this out. Of particular interest, is the assertion that backup software will fail to connect to a free licensed ESXi host. The maximum vCPUs per virtual machine is eight.”Ī few blogs and user posts also mention other restrictions. There are no restrictions on the number of cores per physical CPU, on the number of physical CPUs per host and on the amount of RAM per server/ host. Users can remotely manage individual vSphere Hypervisor hosts using the vSphere Client. vSphere Hypervisor cannot connect to vCenter Server and therefore cannot be centrally managed. vSphere Hypervisor provides only basic virtualization capabilities, allowing customers to virtualize servers and run applications in virtual machines in a matter of minutes. “ VMware vSphere Hypervisor VMware vSphere Hypervisor is a free product that provides a simple and easy way to get started with virtualization at no cost. Now, as hard as I tried, I struggled to find anything solid on the subject save for this paragraph reproduced from this whitepaper.

Free ESXi license comes with a few restrictions which you should definitely know about. But, really, there’s no such thing as a free lunch and ESXi is no exception.

So yes, technically and on paper, VMware ESXi is free to use. ESXi can be used indefinitely, without cost by applying for a free license. Great news, if your short-term plan is to learn about VMware’s hypervisor and its entire feature set without spending a dime. As you probably know, ESXi can be evaluated, fully unlocked, for up to 60 days.

Free esx 0.9.7 for windows 7