VMware Workstation Pro and Fusion Now Free for Personal Use!

There is major news coming from VMware by Broadcom today. They have decided to release VMware Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro for free. This is evidently to allow more to use the Workstation hypervisor apps for personal use. We explore this announcement and how you can download and install the new free for personal use VMware Workstation Pro.

My written write up of the announcement:

The official VMware blog post:

Access downloads from Broadcom:

Introduction - 0:00
What is VMware Workstation Pro? 0:40
What is the catch? 1:15
Business use cases will still need a license - 1:44
Why Broadcom said they are doing this (from official blog post) - 1:52
My cynical take on the reason for the announcement - 2:31
Still a great benefit for home users and home labbers - 3:04
Head over to Broadcom support website and sign up - 3:21
Register for an account if needed - 3:36
How to easily get the download from their blog post - 4:04
Versions for Windows and Linux - 4:20
Running the Personal Use installer - 4:27
You will be prompted to enter license but skip this - 4:45
On the first launch you will select the personal use radio button - 4:57
Comparing this with Windows client Hyper-V limitations - 5:37
What can you do with VMware Workstation Pro? - 5:57
Great networking capabilities in VMware Workstation Pro - 6:25
Wrapping up - 7:00

[yourpcmd]

That is good news, for future users maybe. As for my VMs and my clients? I've already moved them all to Proxmox and I'm currently test-driving TrueNAS Scale VM.

[kienhwengtai]

They sure made the procedure to download a bit of a Labyrinth.

[TheCynysterMind]

have been using VM Ware Workstation Pro for personal use since version 7. I am an IT admin (25 years now) and I use it to keep a library of Operating systems so I can test software on virtual machines and virtual networks.
While this may seem like great news.... it makes me worried that they will stop developing this product.

[boredsillyable]

Thanks for this, a bit of a struggle to get to the goods but worth the time.

[rodrigobrito]

Thank you very much, here from Brazil!!

[alexandrustefanmiron]

After some search I opted for hyper-v. Yep, it's the only one that I can easily partition the GPU. But my god, the things I had to do to make it usable is uncalled for in 2024.

[RocktCityTim]

Have you done a head to head between VMWare and libvirt/qemu on a Linux host? I was using Fusion on a Mac "server", but moved to a Linux host server when the ARM writing was on the wall for Apple.

[gardnerjp]

I really enjoyed using VMWare solutions in the past. Open Source solutions have caught up and I don't have the nasty moat that is "License fees" that come with close sourced solutions. Apple didn't do VMWare any favors when they moved to their new silicon chips. It forced a lot of people to start using Docker that wouldn't have in the past. It showed a lot of people how easy Docker was to use and that they didn't need the bloat that comes with VMWare. I think it'll just be more of that. Blackberry had the same problem - for a time, they were cutting edge. Then newer technology came out that made it obsolete. VMWare is going in that direction.

[TechGuyDave]

Once you click the Download button, it takes you to a sign up page, but the email never comes.

[burinis_and_his_sims_world_tv]

How can I download? For some reason they now require verification from me: indicating the address, city, region...

[brianoconnell-dfkz]

Anyone get past "Account verification is Pending. PleSe try after some time"? Its been stuck like that for over a week when you click the HTTPS Download link for any of the Personal Use releases

[WonkoWick]

Any hints on why Broadcom have the Mac Silicon architecture available for Fusion Pro, and not for Workstation pro ?

[KH]

I want to re-image my server but not lose my VM machines. Whats the process to store them off server and then move them back on to the server once re-imaged?

[sisqo]

I managed to download it, somebody know where I can find VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 6.6 ? thanks

[Huskyzeit]

Hmmm, I think we had this free years ago and I stoped using it because they started to ask money. Are ther _substantial_ reasons to switch back from e.g. Virtual-Box?

[itrieditanditworksordidnt]

I'm willing to try it, but say, how do you download anything here again? It's a labyrinth and everything seems like a dead end.

[seadberberovic]

when I opened it, it asked me for the license key. I can't do it what you did to get to "for personal use"

[serhiyranush]

The link for download from support etc. does not work. Need to use the link from the blog. And then need to provide all the personal information, address, work, etc.

[mairhart]

VMWare Fusion Pro seems to me to be MUCH SLOWER than Parallels, running either Windows 11 or Fedora. I am curious to see whether other folks have successfully optimized performance.

I also noticed that Fedora no longer releases ISO files for installation on Silicon Macs. That makes installation in VMWare difficult.

[rcoliuv]

howerver, i cant found the download window, it want me to build the profile, but i am only the personal