Adding or removing the license from the ESXi Host web client fails with error "The license for this host is being managed by vCenter server"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• ESXi host license has expired
• VMs including the vCenter Appliance is down and fails to power on with error "Failed to power on the virtual machine 'VM'. License key has expired."
• When trying to assign or remove the license from the ESXi Host web client -> Manage -> Licensing, It fails with error "The license for this host is being managed by vCenter server"

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

The issue occurs due to expired ESXi Host license. Since the license is managed by vCenter, it is expected that the Host web client does not allow direct license modifications.

Resolution

• Login to ESXi host via SSH
  
  
• Stop the vpxa service using below command. This will disconnect the host from vCenter.
  /etc/init.d/vpxa stop


• Restart the hostd service. This will refresh the host license configuration and the license ownership will be changed to ESXi host instead of vCenter.
  /etc/init.d/hostd restart

Now you should be able to add or remove the license from ESXi Web interface -> Manage -> Licensing.