It was from Broadcom.

: A controversial change requires a minimum purchase of 72 licensed CPU cores per product, significantly increasing baseline costs for smaller deployments. Announcing VMware vSphere Foundation 9.0 - VMware Blogs

Broadcom drastically altered the VMware product portfolio by eliminating perpetual licenses. The company shifted entirely to a subscription-based model. End of vSphere Free Edition

Would you be interested in a guide on how to ? Share public link

Legitimate, 365-day rolling licenses for a massive suite of VMware applications. This includes vSphere Enterprise Plus, vCenter Server, vSAN, and NSX.

Using unauthorized license keys from public repositories exposes your infrastructure to critical vulnerabilities.

If you can provide the you are trying to solve (e.g., setting up a home lab, moving a small business, or testing a new feature), I can offer more tailored advice on the best legal licensing path.

Now go install that free ESXi 8 copy and start learning—you'll get just as much value from it as you would from any cracked version, without the risks.

Tools that violate terms of service and often contain malware.

Q: Can I get a free VMware ESXi 9 license key on GitHub? A: No, it's unlikely that you'll find a free and legitimate ESXi 9 license key on GitHub. VMware does not distribute free license keys on GitHub or other online platforms.

You do not need to risk your network security with public GitHub keys. Legitimate options exist for evaluating and learning VMware technologies. 1. Official Evaluation Periods