Host license downgrade fails with the error: This key cannot be assigned - features in use

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot change license types of ESX/ESXi hosts
• Downgrading a license from evaluation mode to a standard license fails
• You see the error:
  
  License downgrade. This key cannot be assigned - features in use.
  Details... Revert to previous key

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x

Cause

This issue occurs if Storage I/O Control or Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) is enabled.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, disable Storage I/O Control and Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS).

To disable Storage I/O Control:

1. Click Home in the vSphere Client when connected to vCenter Server.
2. Click Datastores and Datastore Clusters.
3. Click a datastore.
4. Click the Configuration tab and click Properties.
5. Deselect the Enabled option under Storage I/O Control.
6. Click Close.
7. Repeat this process for all datastores that are attached to the host.

To disable DRS:

1. Click Home in the vSphere Client when connected to the vCenter Server.
2. Click Hosts and Clusters.
3. Right-click the cluster and click Edit Settings.
4. Deselect the Turn On vSphere DRS option.
5. Click OK.

The license changes should now succeed and you should see the message:

License downgrade. Some features will become unavailable.
Details... Revert to previous key

Note: This is expected behavior. If you click the Details link, you can see a list of features that will be removed as a result of the license downgrade.

Additional Information

Storage I/O Control is used to configure rules and policies specific to each virtual machine to enforce I/O share levels and priorities. For more information, see VMware Storage I/O Control.