Knowledge Base
Cannot Power on Virtual Machines, "Not enough licenses installed to perform the operation" Error Message
Details
When attempting to power on a virtual machine, especially the first virtual machine on a newly-installed ESX Server host, VI Client might display an error message similar to the following:
There are not enough licenses installed to perform the operation.
Solution
You see the above error message when the ESX Server host is in an unlicensed state. An ESX Server host may be unlicensed for a variety of reasons. The six most common causes and their solutions are described here.
1) Incorrect license source selected.
- In the VI Client, select the ESX Server host.
- Click the Configuration tab.
- Select Licensed Features.
- Set License Sources to:
- license server name or IP if you are using a server-based license
-
provide the full path of the license file name if you are using a host-based license
For more information on server-based and host-based licensing, see Understanding VI3 Licensing: Server- and Host-Based Licensing Models http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1013698.
2) ESX Server License Type has not been changed from the default of "Unlicensed" or is set incorrectly.
- In the VI Client, select the ESX Server host.
- Click the Configuration tab.
- Select Licensed Features.
- Set ESX Server License Type to ESX Server Starter or ESX Server Standard to match the VMware Infrastructure 3 edition you purchased.
You can determine the VMware Infrastructure 3 license edition from your license file.
ESX Starter Edition
INCREMENT PROD_ESX_STARTER VMWARELM 2005.05 permanent uncounted \
VENDOR_STRING=licenseType=Host;capacityType=cpuPackage;gp=14;enable=NAS;maxCPU=4;maxRAM=8192;count=2 \
HOSTID=ANY ISSUED=16-Jun-2006 NOTICE=FulfillmentId=5713 \
SIGN="0D24 4FC5 1A99 B330 3642 6038 ED5A AA21 2049 0B92 2D84 \
E824 3C20 87C5 738C 05A3 1837 E532 F9FD D224 C386 C283 CF23 \
EAC1 0013 83D8 D9BE E494 7555 CED2"
ESX Standard Edition
INCREMENT PROD_ESX_FULL VMWARELM 2005.05 permanent uncounted \
VENDOR_STRING=licenseType=Host;capacityType=cpuPackage;gp=14;exclude=BACKUP;count=2 \
HOSTID=ANY ISSUED=04-Jul-2006 NOTICE=FulfillmentId=1234 \
SIGN="0D24 4FC5 1A99 B330 3642 6038 ED5A AA21 2049 0B92 2D84 \
E824 3C20 87C5 738C 05A3 1837 E532 F9FD D224 C386 C283 CF23 \
EAC1 0013 83D8 D9BE E494 7555 CED2"
3) The license types are merged incorrectly.
Note: Server-based and host-based licenses cannot be merged. For more information see, Understanding VI3 Licensing: Server- and Host-Based Licensing Models http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1013698.
4) The license file is corrupt after editing it.
The license files by default are in UNIX format, without DOS/Windows newlines at the end. Do not edit license files using Notepad. Use Wordpad or a third party text editor that supports UNIX newlines.
5) All available licenses are in use.
Using VI Client, check the number of total and remaining licenses.
6) Trying to power on a 2 CPU Virtual Machine using an ESX starter license.
ESX Starter licenses do not support vSMP.
To resolve this issue:
-
Allocate only one CPU to the Virtual Machine.
-
Upgrade to a Standard license.
For more information, please see Not Enough Licenses Installed (1005265).
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