VMware Workstation Pro and Fusion Now Free for Personal Use!

[@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.

[@bluerfoot]

As Ricky said to doctor bloom "red car".

[@NazmusLabs]

they shouldn’t stop doing the product because the free version is not a separate product. As long as the version is being updated, you’re good to go under the current system

[@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.

[@arturk3810]

VM trunas, pass through disks and all is OK last 3 months.

[@zldsar14]

Honestly mate, For Desktop : VirtualBox for Server hypervisor : Proxmox, best combination.

[@notmyname1486]

@yourpcmd what's your experience so far with the move and functionality?

[@sevenelven]

An average consumer don't need a type 1 hypervisor.

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

​@@sevenelven "An average customer does not need VMs"

[@kienhwengtai8113]

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

[@ScottBaker_]

It's even worse now than in the video.

[@kienhwengtai8113]

@@ScottBaker_ I had a VMWare/Broadcom account so the registration but wasn't hassle. Yeah finding the software was the troublesome bit.

[@heromiIes]

I figured it out but I wouldn't want to do that again.

[@rationalbushcraft]

Their website sucks. When I go through the procedure it takes me to my downloads which is empty. It is a total crap show. I had a client that had Symantec AV and when trying to log into their cloud portal after broadcom took over I couldn't get in. I called tech support and said I couldn't get it the link I had was a dead end. They ask what link am I using? What link am I supposed to use? No answer. He said it works for me. So I tried again and it worked for me now. What did he do? He claims nothing. I have been doing this for nearly 30 years. Don't try to gaslight me. I know they fixed it and lied.

[@rationalbushcraft]

Well I finally got to the darn thing and got the red circle with a red slash through it like I wasn't allowed. Maybe because I have a partner account but dang I want it for personal use. Screw them I will stick with virtual box.

[@pbrigham]

Is too late, no one will trust them now, this company’s think they can become a mercenary and after screw up, be an angel again, as soon trust is broken take years to get it back, VMWARE is done.

[@themateoo]

Can u tell why? I thin I missed something.

[@Wolfyhack]

@@themateoo I think he's talking about esxi, which have become payware, and baremetals licenses which have gone up

[@tecratt]

I don't think they are done at all. I was ready to jump ship just like everybody else, but most of the medium-large enterprise around here are sticking with VMware, which means if you are using Workstation for homelabbing for learning for work it's still a good option.

[@pbrigham]

@@tecratt Just because you are sticking dosent mean you are trusting, at the first opportunity you bail out, especially when you are a case of extortion.

[@contort69]

@@tecratt problem with this is that VMware workstation does not compare to anything vCenter offers, it can't actually be used to learn enterprise virtualization.

[@alexandrustefanmiron7723]

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.

[@realfakearchitect]

Can I install or use virtual Nvidia RTX graphics on this Fusion Pro free version ?

[@gardnerjp1]

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.

[@ytuser13082011]

I don't trust them. I trust free and open source.

[@aya_tadda]

what are some free and open source ones?

[@World_of_OSes]

@@aya_tadda VirtalBox

[@rakly347]

Then download the open source version. The download menu literally says 'Open Source' Go to 4:20 in the video, above the red circled number '1' you can see it.

[@Bareego]

@@aya_tadda if you run linux "Virtual Machine Manager" running on top of Qemu and KVS. If you have a 2nd video card you can even do a passthrough and get almost host level performance in your client. Takes a bit of setting up for the passthrough, if you don't need the high speed running without passthrough works fine and is easy to setup.

[@nobodyimportant7804]

Too bad VirtualBox is a blue screen magnet

[@mav3783]

Yea free for how long.until they release their new stuff. and kill this off

[@bflmpsvz870]

Exactly. I do not trust them a word. They already shown their stripes.

[@rodrigobrito2391]

Thank you very much, here from Brazil!!

[@heisenvader]

I purchased the pro license for a few dollars a while back. Unfortunately the Linux version has been unstable for the last few months. Not the greatest of products.

[@brianoconnell-df7kz]

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

[@Wythaneye]

I've been migrating my VMWS VMs to Virtualbox. No point in going back. Broadcom literally burned the bridge, and is now calling "Come back folks, the bridge is only mostly burned, you can still sort-of cross here".

[@eobardthawnemcoc]

What actually happened? I'm lost

[@HasaniTempest]

@@eobardthawnemcocI’ve always used vmware. I have no clue what the commenters are talking about and definitely wondering

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

​@@eobardthawnemcoc free esxi no longer free happened

[@btdat2506]

@@eobardthawnemcoc Me too.

[@Vlad_a450]

Trying to download this program was the most humiliating experience of my life. Nothing works and it’s completely unclear why. Complete euphemisms. My experience in IT is 30 years! I don't know what they need, I don't want to know!

[@Robert-yp9zs]

If one can't get VMWare (for personal use) installed through the Broadcom "gatekeeper," then it doesn't exist. Its that simple.

[@Patterner]

it's free but you cannot download it? store is closed and the support website has no download links.

[@olexijl78]

I could download it though. But I still am keeping the last version build.

[@subject_16]

@@olexijl78 "Account verification pending, Please try after some time." Getting this since day before yesterday. How long does it take ? Trying to download VMware Fusion 13 for personal use. I have one running as well but the update get's stuck at "update of VMware Fusion core pending."

[@forgottenvy]

It's a free bird who has flown away. Stop chasing it 😂😂

[@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.

[@eman0828]

Technically if you are on Windows you don't need a 3rd party type2 hypervisor because Hyper-V already comes baked in every Windows edition. Just enable it from windows features.

[@radman8321]

No it doesn't. It's only in pro and server versions.

[@eman0828]

@@radman8321 false. Check the Windows features yourself it's in there.

[@radman8321]

@@eman0828 It's not in home edition unless you do a hack that breaks your licencing conditions.

[@ttttt316]

False ​@@radman8321

[@kienhwengtai8113]

I prefer VirtualBox over Hyper-V anyway

[@alphabasic1759]

You can’t even get VMWare Workstation any longer. You can only download it if you are a corporate user with a corporate email.

[@stephentassio3398]

No selection for VM Workstation Pro anywhere and I have created an account???

[@NotAMystery]

Look at his first link to the official article, about a quarter of the way down, it gives the download link.

[@realfakearchitect]

Can I install or use virtual Nvidia RTX graphics on this Fusion Pro free version ?

[@burinis_and_his_sims_world_tv]

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

[@JK-iv4ik]

Video doesn’t show where on broadcoms site to download WS.

[@sbheavyken]

Been using VMware player for years. How about a video on what moving to pro gets you.

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

It's workstation, not player. Player plays, workstation also makes VMs.

[@sbheavyken]

@@BoraHorzaGobuchul Yeah, I get it's workstation. That's my point. Go into detail about how it's different than player so people can decide if they want to switch. Also, demo the process of switching.

[@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.

[@druxpack8531]

this is still the best product to quickly stand up dev/test environments for short term use on a workstation...be pen testing, or just seeing what will happen if you do something. The performance is too spotty for full time use (especially networking, doesn't really support 10gbe or higher). This has a lot of similarities to esxi under the hood, so until everyone has moved off of vsphere, this is a good thing.

[@martinjjnoagenda5536]

Been personally using it for free for years (don't ask). Curious if they are still going to update it now or will need a Broadcom account for later on for new versions. At least it's free now. Not bad for a great product.

[@BurkeAzbill]

They will certainly be updating it because it is the same code that is used for the Commercial-Use "Pro", which is a subscription license. There are many enterprise customers that use workstation/fusion Pro for development and/or Contractor purposes. That type of use is "commercial" and they require support.

[@boredsillyable]

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

[@zyghom]

I wish one day customers have much more power over the vendors and the market gets self regulated. Until then, we have to like what we have rather than have what we like

[@agusaris5031]

Such a great news for my home lab

[@KenHreha]

All I get when I attempt to download it is a pop-up to sign up for the VMware "Cloud". No download. WHERE IS THE DOWNLOADABLE FILE ?

[@tgmct]

They certainly DON'T want us to find it!!!!! Their links are very good at sending us in circles.

[@horatioh5469]

Well I tried it and created two VMs. Open Suse and Ubuntu, Neither one had any sound and couldn't get it working after trying everything possible, so it's not much use to me.

[@KCYT2010]

Why bother ? Proxmox is the defacto standard now for homelab, personal use.

[@wolfk.l.5582]

Proxmox is great but it runs headless and is a type 1 hypervisor. Some need to access virtualized environments locally on top of a host OS with type 2 hypervisors.

[@yerunski]

I use Proxmox too on a dedicated mini PC, but sometimes I just like to try things out on my own PC (running Windows 10) instead. So it's nice to have both :)

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

​@@wolfk.l.5582There's virtualbox

[@serhiyranush4420]

Why don't you run down the complete download procedure. I get kicked into some forum with no download links.

[@sisqo671234]

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

[@meelonhusk]

Now that more businesses are leaving VMWare, seems like having the Workstation version for free is moot. Often engineers and admins would use it since it was a similar ecosystem for learning and VMs could be ported back and forth.

[@TheYashumittal]

How much max RAM we can assign in one VM ?

[@amiddled]

I remember when Fusion was free the first time around…

[@TheMadSqu]

I have been tinkering around with the "normal" workstation player for half a year now and I really like it. It almost does everything I need (except that I can only run GPU support with Zorin, all other Linux Distros fail to start). My question is, if I upgrade now, how are the odds that they want to charge me in 2 years and then I cannot go back to the free version? What are you thoughts on this?

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

Then you move to virtual box? Or do it now and spare the hassle?

[@quebirt]

I have no more idea "why" than anyone else, but it's a smart move for the same reason that Microsoft gives so much to people for personal use. Because when "persons" because "professionals" they are going to strongly favor the tools that they are already comfortable with. With a hypervisor-rich market, even VMWare needs to be conscious of competition. My personal opinion is that VMWare Workstation is "the best" option out there. Thankfully, the developers working on VMWare are NOT the same ones working on the website (holy * it's terrible), and VMWare virtualization, Workstation and esx/esxi, is time tested and reliable and has all the bells and whistles we want. NOW, if my theory is correct, WHY THE * are they ending esx free-for-personal? Maybe the people in the boardrooms ARE the same ones who manage the website????

[@DaveITGuy]

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

[@redrite17]

Created a broadcom account to download 17 pro even though I have 16 pro with vmware. Account stuck in approval for 2 days now... no download possible until approved..

[@KH07734]

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?

[@stultuses]

Didn't they get rid of most of their developers for Workstation Pro a while ago? How much real development has gone into the product in the past few years other than cosmetics? When I used it many years ago, the network configuration aspect when setting up a vm was to notch, I wonder if they have let things stagnate after getting rid of most of their workstation pro coders

[@theontologist]

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.

[@kevinison3740]

One of the most insane websites for this...

[@Rockit66]

What about if it is an upgrade from 16 pro. how will it affect your environment, will it terminate or ???

[@JamesJohnson-sz6oc]

I wouldn’t exactly call it free. After all, you are being required to register for a free Broadcom account in order to access their download page. Not to mention the second Broadcom requirement is that you must provide your full name and physical mailing address before they allow you to download the “FREE” for personal use Software. I don’t think this is the Olive branch you mention in your video, seems more like a data mining opportunity.

[@agostinhomatos321]

This registering process is not anything official, so you can fill the required data with whatever you want, that is what I do, and for the email address I use a free email address specific and restricted to this type of operations. In this way you keep your personal data private.

[@arturk3810]

For how long? Pfsense was free as well.

[@oscard7256]

Can somebody explain the difference between VMWare workstation and VMWAre workstation player? I got that VMWare workstation includes a lot of features not available in player, but is it better to use one or another ? If we change features in VMWare workstation like guest isolation options to disable drag n drop, or copy and paste, or shared folders. Will these changes be permanent on both programs? Also, what is more convenient for daily use? I mean, do they manage resources the same? I've noticed creating the virtual machines in VMWare workstation player wasn't easy, and VMWare workstation has options for creating machines.

[@LuoBin-th5sj]

One Mac One Windows

[@yerunski]

Nice try but there is no way to actually download it. Even after registering. I made it to the list of VMWare software downloads, but when I want to click the little cloud icon to actually do the download, there is a red stop sign icon. It says 'Not entitled'. Update: make sure to download the 'VMWare Workstation Pro for Personal Use' link instead of the one that doesn't say 'Personal Use'. Now that works!

[@seadberberovic9789]

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"

[@ProfessorMatrix]

To be fair the workstations edition should have always had a CE edition. I see zero point in them creating the VMware player since it runs 1 machine at a time. Really bummed about esxi because I started with a home lab and been running proxmox now.

[@psycl0ptic]

zero point? what if you only needed one VM? if you need a bunch of VMs you need more than player, aka workstation. mind blown!

[@tonysu8860]

WS has been a reliable, fully functional too for me in the past. So personally I've used Player only in special situations but either work fine forward I've needed. I've Used other hypervisors but sometimes have had to overcome issues Biggest issue for me is being forced to use the Hyper-V hypervisor in Windows.

[@edwald4056]

Already moved on. They can keep it.

[@Guapo3Tao]

Is VMWare for personal use no longer provided for?

[@foo2hp]

I think KVM/QEMU is the best.

[@Bareego]

especially with the Virtual Machine Manager GUI, and when you can do passthrough it's SO fast

[@YerBrwnDogAteMyRabit]

That's nice. In other important news, my cat knows how to use the litter box.

[@dreammix9430]

You should try litter box 3.1

[@serhiyranush4420]

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.

[@VersatileVibes488]

Why is it difficult to download the VMware I registered and I wanted to sign in I can't sign in

[@joshuacalhoun6167]

Does anyone know where I can find this? I have been all over the website.

[@nikoladd]

How nice of VMware... except they did similar thing before and then cut the licensing after it became popular. It was a bad deal, when they were market leader and now they are not.

[@giftcp82]

the only reason to migrate is the tight integration with GNS3

[@kevinshumaker3753]

Too little, too late. I've assisted several businesses to other products, and helped their devs switch their environments. Homelab, it's not even an option any more.

[@MayIsee-se6zr]

Thank you so much ! It was great to try macOS Sonoma (8GB RAM and 4 cores) on Pro free for a while. Nevertheless, as Workstation Player works faster than Workstation Pro free, I'll stick to the Player. Speed and low cpu are best for a dummy like me. Specs : Desktop: Xfce 4.18.1, Distro: Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia, Machine: Laptop HP Pavilion Laptop 15-eh1xxx v, AMD Ryzen 5 5500U with Radeon Graphics. Thanks again for this video.

[@wizzbangtg]

An Olive branch to us "allowing us to download and use". That's rich. I will still give VMWare by Broadcom a Hard Pass! Not to mention Workstation does not suit my or my customer's needs. But I am sure this will make some happy and thanks for bringing us this news Brandon.

[@WonkoWick]

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

[@Fantomas-f8g]

Gonna try this, I hope performance is better than Virtualbox...

[@dktol56]

Does Workstation still support remote connections? I thought I heard that feature was removed, but haven't checked in a while.

[@bflmpsvz870]

Yes last version that has it was 16 I think.

[@tonyc2227]

What is the difference between the workstation pro and fusion ?

[@paulhimle]

Fusion is for Mac

[@Chris-hy6jy]

They should make a single host, non-commercial version of ESXi available for free too!

[@stick2dapoint88]

Are we sure they didn't nerf the "Pro" version down to an equivalent of what used to be the (free) "Player" version???

[@CharlieMartorelli]

There is also a free for personal use Mac version

[@dropsofmexico9330]

I am learning IT and would like to explore VMs and experiment with linux distros. Can someone recommend one for me?

[@filmonteklom-sh7xk]

Hey, i have a quotion, does the VMware workstation Player no more availble? I used it early and now i want to download, but i can find it anymore.Thanks

[@39zack]

Player has been discontinued now that pro is free for personal use

[@filmonteklom-sh7xk]

@@39zack Thanks for your answer. Do you have any recommendations, how to download, install and use it? I can't download it from the official website.

[@BosnianMaps]

Can you use it in videos?

[@itouchapplemaster]

What I am wondering is the capability limitations with the personal use edition. Is there a limit on the number of VMs you can run? Is there certain features that’s not supported in the personal use version?

[@tenand11]

उत्तर भेटलं की मला पण सांग भावा

[@radman8321]

No limits beyond the "personal use only" condition.

[@stocky9803]

so how is this meant to stop people from using it commercially?

[@bigtrulz3508]

Impossible to download, any suggestions

[@Bareego]

The question for me is, is it as fast as Qemu/KVM with hardware passthrough on linux ? If not why should I bother, don't need to register if I use the free tools.

[@tonysu8860]

In Linux, I prefer the VMware hypervisor and graphical tools. On Windows nowadays no matter the virtualization you're forced to use the Hyper-V hypervisor but use the management tools if your virtualization choice.

[@AshwinSKumar]

Will VMware work with Adobe, Unity or Maya 3D?

[@alonzosmith6189]

Wow, I just paid for Pro version 2 months ago

[@MidianNiles]

Hello, newbie to virtual networking & linux. I wanted to ask, how does VMware compare to Proxmox? Is it essentially the same? My linux learning has guided me into using Proxmox; so far so good, other than the wifi void....

[@simeonthomas5881]

My two cents…? Stick with Proxmox. I’ve used VMWare for the better part of 20 years and recently ported to Proxmox and there’s no turning back for me! You’re typically better off using things built off of Linux if you want to stay hands on and have flexible skills.

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

Proxmox is type 1, VMware WS is standalone app, and free esxi which is analogue to proxmox they killed recently. Esxi was quite all right, only very picky about hardware

[@danyilmoskalenko232]

Simple "registration". It seems that registration and downloading according to support documents is no longer very simple. + Entering additional data. Also, loading personal and non-personal pro versions hints at something.

[@Thegame-wc8ls]

I can't find the software download

[@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?

[@mhelmreich1]

Trust is gone.

[@ConRami-jy3tv]

What did they do , genuinely want to know

[@stefanopucci6313]

i tryed to download and gives an error : something went wrong

[@jeffersonsantos4603]

Somehow, it looks like a PR Stunt.. People is suspecting Broadcomm may push it towards EOL..

[@michaelmartin5995]

I have heard the same, that they are wanting to jettison Workstation and Fusion, but know the VMWare natives will go nuclear if that does happen. I have used every VMWare Workstation version from the first initial "hobbiest" release in 1999 until now. It has been my go-to tool for decades. Would be a shame to kill off a product that has many dedicated users.

[@EagleTube-ph6wh]

Hello!I want to develop online ide so can i get free virtual machine(in cloud or others) running code on remote docker

[@eroo1973]

Doesn't work, says I'm not entitled to download

[@flesz_]

for personal use I was finding dodgy keys and just registering it :D

[@nicholsonjay4724]

Would this mean I can drop parallels for Mac?

[@markc6714]

Better yet, get rid of Mac

[@BigFourHead]

found the link to download this but then it tells me im entitled to it.

[@chewylandlive]

Download seems to be down.

[@radl3nt]

I got it to download it after 20 minutes of waiting.

[@FinbarrAherne]

Same for me. Can Broadcom doing anything right?

[@radl3nt]

@@FinbarrAherne Worked for me.

[@chewylandlive]

@@FinbarrAherne They are doing everything right. We are getting an awesome app for free. What more do you want?

[@FinbarrAherne]

@@chewylandlive If you missed the memo, the download link doesn't work.

[@joestradamus75]

must be some wrong with the site. I registered but download page shows nothing. I'll try later.

[@joestradamus75]

google chrome doesn't see the product page but microsoft edge does. I still can't find download option.

[@RMPL73PRO]

Did they not selling EUC (End user Computing) division to external entity (currently changing name to Omnissa), some investent fund. So they dont really care, soon this is literally wll not be their problem/property.

[@BurkeAzbill]

Fusion and Workstation are in the VCF division, not EUC so it stays with Broadcom.

[@RMPL73PRO]

@@BurkeAzbill Thanks for claryfing - earlier there are infromation that its a part of EUC division.

[@allensword1855]

I don't trust it after their vsphere pricing change, open source it and then I'll download it.

[@isrbillmeyer]

If I use Linux on my workstation, what benefits will VMWare Pro offer over KVM?

[@gabrielnilo6101]

More devs using their tool = more people developing stuff under it. More devs accustomed to using it = more small companies paying it so their devs can work with it = more money.

[@brandhark7935]

UPDATE OF AUGUST 2024: I had the same issues as those in the comments. Once i had an account it wants you to use a site ID and give business information you don't have. Turns out, if you go through the blog link that he posted in the video, as long as you have the account set up, and you accept the terms box, you can download away hassle free.

[@kyesil]

What about esxi free

[@mrwho30]

ESXi free is gone ☹ As core software i don't think they'll change THAT decission.

[@MINI-4X4-RADIO]

Gave up... Created account... Clicked Download in Blog Post... Takes you to v13 Download page, still no download

[@oldsurehand9563]

Click on the link "The official VMware blog post:" on this page. The working download link is in the article.