If the current license on a system expires, or if you want to access additional VMware Horizon features, you can use Horizon Console to change the product license key.

Based on your VMware Horizon deployment, you can get a term license, a subscription license, or a perpetual license for VMware Horizon. You can use Horizon Console to change from the license mode for a pod.
Note: If you have more than one license, you must either use them for different pods or you must obtain an exception by working with your VMware representative.

Subscription licenses for VMware Horizon do not require keys, but require the Horizon Cloud Connector virtual appliance. For more information about subscription licenses, see "Enabling VMware Horizon for Subscription Licenses and Horizon Control Plane Services" in the Horizon 8 Installation and Upgrade document.

Horizon Subscription and Term licenses include an additional 30 days beyond the written expiration date for continued access.

Example: If you have a Horizon term license with the expiration date of 1 Jan 2022, the 30-day grace period means that you have access until 12:00 AM local time on 1 Feb 2022.

When the grace period ends you will no longer have any access to perform tasks like creating new desktops. To ensure uninterrupted access you must contact your VMware representative to renew your license before the 30-day period ends.

Note: You can add a license to VMware Horizon while VMware Horizon is running. You do not need to reboot the system, and access to desktops and applications is not interrupted.

Prerequisites

  • For the successful operation of VMware Horizon and add-on features, obtain a valid product license key.
  • To use a subscription license, verify that you enable VMware Horizon for a subscription license. See "Enabling VMware Horizon for Subscription Licenses and Horizon Control Plane Services" in the Horizon 8 Installation and Upgrade document. The Licensing panel displays information about the subscription license for the Horizon pod.
Note: Licenses for Horizon 7 versions 7.13 and earlier do not work for Horizon versions 2006 and later. If you have a Horizon 7 license you must get a new license for Horizon version 2006 or later.

Procedure

  1. In Horizon Console, select Settings > Product Licensing and Usage.
    The first and last five characters of the current license key are displayed in the Licensing panel.
  2. To edit the license key, click Edit License, Enter the license serial number and click OK.
    The Licensing Settings panel shows the updated licensing information.
  3. (Optional) To change from a subscription license to a term license for a Horizon pod, click Use Term License and click OK.
    The Licensing Settings panel shows the updated licensing information.
  4. (Optional) To change from a term license to a subscription license for a Horizon pod, click Use Subscription License and click OK. The Horizon Cloud Service administrator can then enable the Horizon pod for a subscription license.
    The Licensing Settings panel shows the updated licensing information.
  5. Verify the license expiration date.
  6. Verify that the component licenses are enabled or disabled, based on the edition of VMware Horizon that your product license entitles you to use.

    Not all features and capabilities of VMware Horizon are available in all license editions. For a comparison of feature sets in each edition, see https://www.vmware.com/products/horizon.html.

  7. Verify that the licensing usage model matches the model that is used in your product license.
    Usage is counted by the number of named users or concurrent users, depending on the edition and usage agreement for your product license.