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Downgrading a vSphere 4.x license to a ESX 3.5 license

This article provides steps to downgrade vSphere licenses to an older version such as VMware Infrastructure 3.x and answers the following questions:

How do I downgrade vSphere 4.x?
Can I purchase a VMware Infrastructure 3 license if I have already purchased a vSphere 4.x license?
How do I purchase a VMware Infrastructure 3 license?

After the release of vSphere 4.x, you can no longer purchase older versions. You must downgrade the license.

To downgrade your license:

Log in to the License Portal.
Click Manage product licenses. Click Downgrade.
Choose the order you want to downgrade and click Continue.

On the Confirmation page you have a chance to review the downgrade operation.
Click Confirm on the warning dialog that appears to proceed with the downgrade operation.

A dialog is displayed while the operation is in progress.

Note: Downgrades are not processed immediately. It takes approximately 30 minutes to complete the operation.
Click OK to continue.
When the downgrade is complete you can click the VI3 licenses tab on the portal for the downgraded licenses.

Notes:

The downgrade option is not available with ESXi 4 Single Server, vSphere 4 Essentials, and vSphere 4 Essentials (Plus). Additionally, Desktop Products like VMware Workstation, Fusion, View, ThinApp, ACE are also not downgradable.
Only whole orders can be downgraded.
Licenses displayed on vSphere/vCenter portal are not decreased or affected and the downgrade process cannot be reversed.

vMotion functionality is only available for licenses downgraded from vSphere Enterprise and vSphere Enterprise Plus.

Notes:

Only new orders are eligible for downgrades.
You must be the PLA and/or SLA for the order you are downgrading or you will not be able to view the downgraded licenses.
If a license has been upgraded from VI3 to vSphere 4, you do not need to downgrade.
If you have made a new order and you do not receive the option to downgrade:
1. Log in to the License Portal.
2. Browse to License Key History > Event Type > Downgrade Order and click Search to show all of your downgraded orders.
3. If your new order is not listed, contact VMware Licensing.

To request a new product feature or to provide feedback on a VMware product, please visit the Request a Product Feature page.

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