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Not enough licenses installed

Symptoms

Cannot connect an ESX host to VirtualCenter
Cannot use features such as VMotion, DRS or VMware HA
Cannot power on a virtual machine
Insufficient licenses installed on the License Server
Not enough licenses

Purpose

This article guides you through troubleshooting missing or incorrectly installed licenses on the License Server. The article identifies and provides you steps to eliminate common causes leading to an insufficient licenses error.

Resolution

The below listed steps will provide instructions or links to documents to eliminate possible causes and take corrective action as necessary. The steps are ordered in the most appropriate sequence to isolate the issue and identify the proper resolution. Do not skip any steps.

Verify that the feature in question is part of the ESX edition purchased. For more information, see VMware Products in VI3.5 Foundation, Standard and Enterprise Editions (1003296).
Verify that the installed licenses on the VMware Infrastructure Client are correct and that all available licenses are not in use already. For more information, see Viewing the number of CPU Licenses using the VI Client (1005262).
Ensure that the License and Support Administrator has appropriate licenses under their account. For more information, see What do the different administrator roles (PLA, SLA, and SA) mean? (1003304).
Verify that the type and count of licenses are activated according to the current need. For more information, see ESX 3.x Server and vCenter 2.x Editions (1005153).
Ensure that the correct the license file is uploaded with correct procedure. For more information, see Installing ESX Server Licenses (1001383).
If multiple license files are manually combined, verify that the syntax is correct. For more information, see How to Combine FLEXlm License Files (8996281).

Note: If you make a correction to the license file, repeat step 5.
Ensure that VirtualCenter is correctly configured. For more information, see Cannot Add a Host to VirtualCenter (1003623).

If your problem still exists after trying the steps in this article, please file a support request with VMware Support and note this KB Article ID in the problem description. For more information, see How to Submit a Support Request.

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