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There is no process to upgrade the license file, you need to obtain the new ESXi 5.0 license from VMware, through the MyVMware Portal.<br />
<br />
or Register for a FREE license.<br />
<br />
Licenses from ESXi/ESX 3.x or ESXi/ESX 4.x are not compatible with ESXi 5.x.<br />
<br />
They are also in a completely different format, the licensing scheme was changed for 4.x and later. It no longer uses a *.lic file.
</div>


There is no process to upgrade the license file, you need to obtain the new ESXi 5.0 license from VMware, through the MyVMware Portal.

or Register for a FREE license.

Licenses from ESXi/ESX 3.x or ESXi/ESX 4.x are not compatible with ESXi 5.x.

They are also in a completely different format, the licensing scheme was changed for 4.x and later. It no longer uses a *.lic file.

<div>
see also here<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/upgrade-center/licensing.html" rel="ugc nofollow">http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/upgrade-center/licensing.html</a>
</div>


see also here

http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/upgrade-center/licensing.html [http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/upgrade-center/licensing.html]

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<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
We have an old ESX host running 3.0.1 with a host license file. We have just bought a new server and want to install ESX 5, decomission the old server, and use its license for this new server.<br />
<br />
Is there a process to upgrade the ESX 3 host license file to be used with the new server running ESXi 5?
</div>
</div>


We have an old ESX host running 3.0.1 with a host license file. We have just bought a new server and want to install ESX 5, decomission the old server, and use its license for this new server.

Is there a process to upgrade the ESX 3 host license file to be used with the new server running ESXi 5?

Upgrading ESX Host license from 3.0.1 to ESX 5

Servers are computing devices that are similar to desktop computers in that they have the same basic components, but are significantly different in size, configuration and purpose. Servers are usually accessed over a network, and many run unattended, without a computer monitor, input device, audio hardware or USB interfaces. Many servers do not have a graphical user interface (GUI), and are configured and managed remotely. Servers typically include hardware redundancy such as dual power supplies, RAID disk systems, and ECC memory, along with extensive pre-boot memory testing and verification. Critical components might be hot swappable, and to guard against overheating, servers might have more powerful fans or use water cooling.

Server Hardware

VMware, a software company founded in 1998,  was one of the first commercially successful companies to offer x86 virtualization. The storage company EMC purchased VMware in 1994. Dell Technologies acquired EMC in 2016. VMware’s parent company is now Dell Technologies.

VMware has many software products that run on desktops, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, which allows the virtualizing of the x86 architecture.  Its enterprise software hypervisor for servers, VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), is a bare-metal hypervisor that runs directly on the server hardware and does not require an additional underlying operating system.