zoe:
There is no real problem and this has been answered 10 times already. But your confusion is justified.
People associated with Broadcom cannot say this to you, but I can explain.
Broadcom is an American software company and they cannot give Download rights to everybody - there are many countries where American software is disallowed. This VMware Workstation makes no exception in their books.
But, since this is Freeware since Nov 2024 (please don't start explaining what is Freeware and what is not really Freeware - it has also been discussed numerous times), you can Download this from anywhere you like. Use your favourite, trusted Download site where you Download every other Windows software. There is no difference for VMware with Windows. With Linux there might be a difference, since Linux software is typically NOT loaded from various Web Sites. However, Linux is protected by its better technology and thus the problem is very small if you just use your own judgement.
I hope this helps.
Original Message:
Sent: Aug 09, 2026 11:59 AM
From: Technogeezer
Subject: Download vmware workstation 17
There are no longer any direct links that enable you to to download Workstation from Broadcom without signing in. They turned those capabilities off a year and a half ago when they changed their policies to disallow anonymous/unauthenticated downloads.
You have to sign up for a Broadcom Basic Account and pass account screening (for export compliance) before you can download Workstation from Broadcom's support portal.
Workstation 17 is not the latest for Windows 11. The latest is Workstation 26H1.
Broadcom also does not provide a download for any Workstation version prior to 17.5.2.
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Paul Rockwell (technogeezer)
vExpert 2026 (3x)
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