Obtain Personal Use license for Fusion 12

[ekap]

Hi all,

I am unable to update my Mac to the newest software version and I am on OS 10.15.7. However, because of this I am only able to download Fusion 12 and not Fusion 13, I was able to obtain a license key for Fusion 13, but it does not work for Fusion 12. Is there any way to convert my license key for fusion 13 to fusion 12? thanks! 

[Technogeezer]

You can't convert a Fusion 13 personal use license to Fusion 12, but you can still register for a Fusion 12 personal use license at the following link:

https://customerconnect.vmware.com/en/evalcenter?p=fusion-player-personal

 

[msmoot]

I'm in the same boat as the original poster,.... i cannot run Fusion 13 on my Intel-based Macbook Pro. I was running V11 and just recentlly installed V12, but I cannot register V12 using a free V13 license. Unfortunately I cannot figure out how to specify at the free licensing page that I need a _V12_license.  It seems able to create only V13 free licenses at the present time.

 

[Technogeezer]

You don't specify which version you want. The. registration page you go to determines which version license you'll get.

If you open the default registration page  https://customerconnect.vmware.com/en/evalcenter?p=fusion-player-personal-13 (the one you'll get if you go through the public VMware pages) you will register for a Fusion 13 Personal Use license. (the tip-off is that -13 at the end of the URL).

If you open  https://customerconnect.vmware.com/en/evalcenter?p=fusion-player-personal (note the lack of -13 in the URL) you will register for a Fusion 12 Personal Use license. This link is not publicly posted on VMware's product web pages, so you'll have to click on the above link to get to it. Last I checked, it still works.  

 

[msmoot]

Hi Paul,

Thank You!  The V12 link you provided worked fine and I now have a V12 Player license.

It may be interesting to note that my earlier attempts to get the license were initiated from my Fusion V12 registration screen, yet I still landed on the V13 free licensing page. Your direct V12 link was very helpful indeed.

Regards,

John

[TED CANNADAY]

None of this seems to work any more, at least for me. Now when you click your link it says you have to go to the 'Broadcom Support Portal' and deal with things like Site IDs and Upgrading your account, none of which makes any sense in the context of what I need to do.

All I need is a free, non-commercial license for VMWare Fusion 12.1.1 (which I downloaded elsewhere). There is a key I need to enter when installing it on my Mac. I need to use this version of Fusion because my older Mac can only run up to macOS 10.15 Catalina, but I have no idea how to get the license using the Broadcom portal.

Is there any way I could get some help to accomplish this seemingly simple task? It would be much appreciated.

[Technogeezer]

If you're looking for a personal use license of Fusion 12, you're out of luck. The ability to generate personal use licenses for Fusion 12 went away when Broadcom moved to this new platform and announced that Fusion Pro 13.5.2 is available for free for personal use. 

License keys are no longer required for personal use of Fusion, but you need to use Fusion 13.5.2 - which has been changed to "automagically" unlock itself for personal use if you don't provide a license key at installation. Older versions don't have this capability. 

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- Paul (technogeezer)
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[TED CANNADAY]

Thanks for your answers, but this is certainly unfortunate since Fusion
13.5.2 won't install on macOS Catalina. I've been a Fusion customer for
many years (before it was 'free'), as far back as Fusion 5, and I'd just
like to keep using it so I can occasionally run an important Windows app
on my Mac.

If there is no _free_ personal use license of Fusion 12, is there one I
could buy?

[Technogeezer]

In the "good old days", you could downgrade a perpetual Fusion Pro or Player license from 13 to 12. VMware stopped selling licenses for Fusion 12 when Fusion 13 was released back in late 2022. To add insult to injury, Broadcom isn't selling perpetual licenses any more for Fusion. So that avenue is shut off. 

More insult to injury. If you didn't have an active support contract for Fusion as of the time of the cutover to the new Broadcom systems, your prior license keys/entitlements were not moved over to this new system. So a purchased Fusion 13 license with no unexpired SnS contract can't be downgraded because there's no record of it in the new systems. Another avenue is shut off.

I'm not sure that if the purchase of a VMware desktop hypervisor subscription (whenever they get their act together to allow us to buy it through an online store) will permit you to downgrade that license to Fusion 12 - because, once again, Fusion 12 is no longer supported. You might want to ask that question in the Customer Care forum.

The Broadcom forum police probably wouldn't take kindly to a discussion here about unofficial sources for licenses. 

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- Paul (technogeezer)
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