How to remove your License from VMware Horizon View

Licensing Horizon View is quite simple. Grab your key, enter it into the GUI and you're off. What you  might have noticed, however, is that once you've submitted your key, it's as if you've deposited it into a black hole, never to be seen again. Per the licensing section in View Administrator (View Configuration > Product Licensing and Usage) the only information we get is which features are enabled and our expiration.

So what if you need to remove this license without replacing it? Or what if you're getting an error replacing the License and wish you could just wipe it out? The answer is quit simple and outlined below.

In order to clear your license from View:

1. First, take a backup of the ADAM database (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1008046) by opening a command prompt on the Connection Server and type: vdmexport > vdmconfig.ldf


2. Connect to ADAM via ADSI Edit (kb.vmware.com/kb/2012377)


3. Expand OU=Properties, OU=Global then right click CN=License and choose Properties.


4. Scroll down to pae-LicenseKey2, choose Edit, and remove all entries.


5. Wait 2 minutes for ADAM to replicate to other brokers (if applicable) then go verify View is unlicensed in View Administrator. If you run into any issues, you can follow the first KB I linked above to restore the ADAM database.