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:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2024/05/vmware-workstation-pro-free-for-personal-use-download/
The official VMware blog post:
https://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2024/05/vmware-workstation-pro-now-available-free-for-personal-use.html
Access downloads from Broadcom:
https://support.broadcom.com
Check out the VHT forums to get your questions answered: https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/community/
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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
by VirtualizationHowto
linux download
VMware doesn't play nice on Desktops running Linux. Virt-Manager is good though.
howerver,i cant found the download window,it want me to build the profile,but i am only the personal
I just bought the motherfucker a few weeks ago.
Don’t worry they will change their minds about this after sometime.
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.
Great video Brother, thanks so much!
Wow, I just paid for Pro version 2 months ago
Thanks for this, a bit of a struggle to get to the goods but worth the time.
Impossible to download, any suggestions
I switched to Hyper-V years ago. I will not use a junky software based type 2 hypervisor again
I bought Workstation pro years ago and have been paying for the upgrades as they come out. I was looking into ProxMox as a replacement KVM because I was counting on Broadcom making Workstation a subscription, and I draw the line there..I’m not paying for SaaS.
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
Amazing!!
I'll stick with QEMU/KVM & Virt Manager.
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.
Oh my, they took a page from Microsoft et all 😀 Let the personal users use it for free (like they've been doing one way or another anyway…), get them used to it, charge enterprise through the roof for commercial. It's proven to be a profitable strategy so why not… But, as far as I'm concerned, it's a GoodThingTM. Not gonna trash others (except maybe for Hyper-Trash…) but overall VMWare is still the GOAT as far as virtualization goes. It was good back in the NT4/W2K day, it's still good today.
So first they left you naked now they give you back your undis and you are F*** happy ??
how do I download vmware workstation pro? I cant seem to find it in broadcom
(EDIT) nvm thank you for the link in the description
It's esxi free that should have been left free. A "here's a free standalone virtualization app for consolation" doesn't do much after that. So "f*k y very much, Broadcom".
Broadcom's statement should be: "We realized people are not so dumb, and they are starting to leave WVWare products. Our past actions resulted in a complete loss of trust from users. This will cause a decrease in interest in our software and, a lack of specialists who will want to use it in the future. We realized this has strengthened our competition, which will result in the loss of market and money in the future."
the only reason to migrate is the tight integration with GNS3
FREE means FREE Spyware/Adware‼️👍🏻🤣😂😅
Too little too late….
I've already migrated to Linux VirtualBox and Proxmox solutions…. Don't trust VMware anymore..
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.
no login
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.
Gave up…
Created account… Clicked Download in Blog Post… Takes you to v13 Download page, still no download
They sure made the procedure to download a bit of a Labyrinth.
It's Free… Only if you can actually find it… Rabbit Hole
First they are just doing this for backlash of exsi and you should have started with type 1 And type 2 hypervisor cause the devil is in the details… Your whole video just went to garbage cause of it and I can't trust what your saying as this can be a misleading to newbies seriously!
I don't trust it after their vsphere pricing change, open source it and then I'll download it.
Finally it's true
Do you know why they are doing this? Because most people download the 300-dollar software, then use distributed license keys to use VMware workstation without buying a license for it.
I remember when Fusion was free the first time around…
If I use Linux on my workstation, what benefits will VMWare Pro offer over KVM?