VMware officially ended General Support for vSphere 5.5 on September 19, 2018 .
If you must run ESXi 5.5 for historical application compatibility, isolate the host entirely from the public internet and untrusted local networks to mitigate unpatched security vulnerabilities.
Unlike ESXi 5.0 (which had a 32GB RAM limit), ESXi 5.5 free allows unlimited physical host memory.
On a gray Wednesday, a reply arrived: terse, businesslike, and helpful. A support engineer named Liza asked for proof of donation and the host UUIDs. Amir gathered screenshots, invoices, and a shaky photograph of the sticker. He hit send, then paced.
: Allows virtual machines to have up to 8 virtual CPUs (vCPUs).
If you are planning an infrastructure transition, please let me know:
The specific features available to you depend on the license key applied: Deployment Parameters Worksheet: License Keys
Because VMware ESXi 5.5 reached End of General Support (EOGS) in September 2018 and End of Technical Guidance (EOTG) in September 2020, navigating its licensing, limitations, and security risks requires careful consideration. 1. The Core Architecture of ESXi 5.5 Licensing
To prepare features in VMware ESXi 5.5:
尽管使用“14k”密钥或泄露的序列号看起来很省事，但在 2026 年的今天，这个做法隐患重重。
VMware ESXi 5.5 officially reached its nearly eight years ago in September 2018. This means:
You can install it on servers with multiple sockets.
: A standalone license with no expiration but limited features (e.g., no vCenter management, no backup APIs). Paid vSphere Editions
– Sharing or generating product keys for commercial software without authorization violates copyright laws and software licensing agreements.
尽管网上的“14k”迷雾重重，但事实上 VMware 官方曾经提供过 许可计划。对于 ESXi 5.5 来说，官方渠道确实提供了一个完全合法的 免费许可证密钥 。