If you have an active entitlement or a legacy enterprise account migrated to Broadcom, you can access older binaries through the Broadcom Support Portal. Log into your Broadcom account. Navigate to the section. Search for "VMware vSphere" or "ESXi".
ESXi 5.5 is managed primarily via the legacy Windows-based vSphere Client application ( VMware-viclient ). The modern web-based host client was not natively integrated into the base 5.5 release.
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5 is a legacy version that reached the on September 19, 2018, and the End of Technical Guidance on September 19, 2020.
ESXi 5.5 requires a license key for full functionality. A free, limited-feature license might be difficult to activate without an active VMware account. Common Issues
These OEM images are explicitly designed for recovery, reinstallation, and use on compatible hardware platforms from their respective manufacturers. The Dell versions, for example, can be found on the official Dell support download site (dl.dell.com), making them easily accessible without login barriers.
