Broadcom released on June 17, 2025. This major update introduces a significant shift in licensing, as Broadcom has officially retired traditional 25-character license keys in favor of a strictly subscription-based model managed through Broadcom Support Portal and the VCF Operations platform. New Licensing Reality for ESXi 9.0
Because ESXi 9.0 uses a subscription-file validation system rather than a standalone alphanumeric key, traditional "keys" found on platforms like GitHub typically do not work for this version. Key Features and Changes in Version 9.0 vmware esxi 9 license key github updated
Broadcom has discontinued the "Free" edition of ESXi for version 9.0. Broadcom released on June 17, 2025
Instead of entering a key directly on the host, licenses are now applied as subscription files via VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Operations . The State of GitHub License Keys Key Features and Changes in Version 9