VMware is presently experiencing some tough times, but I have to say that they are handling the situation professionally, as always.

All those who downloaded the product and gave a valid address received an e-mail describing the problem:

Problem:

An issue has been discovered by many VMware customers and partners with ESX / ESXi 3.5 Update 2 where Virtual Machines fail to power on or VMotion successfully. This problem began to occur on August 12, 2008 for customers that had upgraded to ESX 3.5 Update 2. The problem is caused by a build timeout that was mistakenly left enabled for the release build.

Affected Products:

VMware ESX 3.5 Update 2 & ESXi 3.5 Update 2
Reports of problems with ESX 3.5 U1 with the following 3.5 Update 2 patch applied.
1. ESX350-200806201-UG
No other VMware products are affected.

So, if you start a VM after August 12, the server will say that the product is expired. In the meantime, try and avoid turning off a virtual machine. The problem also arises when it is moved with VMotion.

An info page was immediately put online.

The following day at 7:00 a.m., I received a new mail. Evidently, they had been working all night:

Dear VMware Customers,

We have released the express patches for the product expiry issue. Please go to http://app.connect.vmware.com/e/er.aspx?s=524&lid=3173&elq=F2067161791A469F9202724CFA66D8FB for more information.

It would be nice if all software publishers were as serious and responsive.

Thanks to Francois, once again, for inspiring this article.