Either the lawyers or whoever is deciding this needs to be fired, or VMware Fusion was illegal until Broadcom bought it and now they're trying to cover it up. I seriously doubt it's the latter.
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Original Message:
Sent: Nov 13, 2025 11:45 AM
From: Technogeezer
Subject: "The update server could not be resolved" error when checking for Fusion upgrades.
> How Broadcom organizes itself internally isn't my problem.
It is a problem to the extent that their decisions impact products and services that it provides. I won't get into Broadcom's decisions about other VMware products that are not well received (and that's being very kind) by their customers and resellers.
> "I told myself I can't do that, so my hands are tied" is nonsensical and you know it.
Try another analogy: Think of when you were a child. Your parents set the rules. You were expected to follow them or suffer the consequences. Regardless of the degree of collaborative decision making in a corporate culture, someone (e.g. your manager or HR) is responsible for setting rules. The consequences of not adhering to them are admittedly different than what your parents did when you broke through rules -- anything from disciplinary action to termination to legal action.
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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
Original Message:
Sent: Nov 12, 2025 11:00 PM
From: Austin Wright
Subject: "The update server could not be resolved" error when checking for Fusion upgrades.
> Shareholder meetings would almost never get down to this level of micro-managing operational decision.
I'm being facetious, but only by half; obviously that would be micro-management-also, that's the only possible way a corporation can have "rules they're subjected to."
How Broadcom organizes itself internally isn't my problem. "I told myself I can't do that, so my hands are tied" is nonsensical and you know it.
By the way, if anyone else is searching for the download, just google the SHA-256 hash, you can download it on a bunch of different download sites.
Original Message:
Sent: Nov 12, 2025 07:49 PM
From: Technogeezer
Subject: "The update server could not be resolved" error when checking for Fusion upgrades.
> But I paid for a Fusion license.
You bought a license to use a major version of the Fusion product - and I did as well for Fusion versions up to Fusion 13. It will let you run Fusion Pro for those versions of Fusion before 13.5.2. Because Broadcom made Fusion Pro free (no cost, not open-source) for all use cases, no licensing is needed for Fusion 13.5.2 or later. Those versions will still accept your old license key, but it makes no difference. .Fusion Pro 25H2 runs fine and has full features without a key (it'll accept a Fusion 13 Pro key, but why bother since it isn't needed?)
Now I will agree with you that there are things that given the current state of the product they should have removed. The "Get Support" means nothing today. "Enter license" also doesn't mean anything.
> Except that the FAQ you doesn't say anything of the sort, but it does say...
Agreed that the FAQ says that the back-end URL was "deprecated" i.e. taken off line. They don't say why but note that they didn't say that it would return. There are posts both here in the Fusion forum and the Workstation forum that tell the real reason why the servers (and feature) was removed -- and I've confirmed that with off-line conversations I've had through moderator channels with Broadcom product management. The move to tie in-product updates to active "product entitlements" (subscriptions), the lack of "entitlements" for the free desktop hypervisors, and Broadcom's need to police export compliance are the reasons behind what you see.
> Subjected to by who? Themselves? Was there a shareholder meeting I'm unaware of?
Shareholder meetings would almost never get down to this level of micro-managing operational decision. Broadcom management at or above the VCF team level and Broadcom legal are the most likely ones that were responsible for the change in policy.
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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
Original Message:
Sent: Nov 12, 2025 04:08 PM
From: Austin Wright
Subject: "The update server could not be resolved" error when checking for Fusion upgrades.
> (i.e. those with active subscriptions - for which there isn't one available for Fusion).
But I paid for a Fusion license. I don't mind if there's a free version, but that I can't pay for support even if I want to strikes me as fraudulent.
> They are looking to see if they can get notification of new versions into the product without violating the corporate rules they're subjected to.
Subjected to by who? Themselves? Was there a shareholder meeting I'm unaware of?
> The ability to in-product update Fusion and Workstation will not likely return based on their decisions to only allow in-product updates to paying customers (i.e. those with active subscriptions - for which there isn't one available for Fusion)
Except that the FAQ you doesn't say anything of the sort, but it does say
The free version includes all features previously available only through Fusion Pro and Workstation Pro
This suggests to me support for in-app updates.
> Quite honestly there haven't been a lot of reported bugs in Fusion 25H2
And not to imply Fusion is bug-ridden, indeed I'm using it because it works better than the open source alternatives, for me. Nonetheless I have several problems I'm trying to ask about... Bonded network interfaces don't show up. I'd like to decrypt a VM I have the password to. The "Get Support -> Go To Support..." button doesn't go anywhere. "Check for Updates..." of course. Why is "Enter License..." still there unless it's being used for something.
Original Message:
Sent: Nov 12, 2025 03:17 PM
From: Technogeezer
Subject: "The update server could not be resolved" error when checking for Fusion upgrades.
> Are they though?
Yes they are. They have made public statements about this in this forum and the Workstation forum. And in the FAQ document found here
> How difficult is it to put up a file at a certain URL?
Technically it isn't. But the issue preventing it isn't technical. It's a result of Broadcom corporate decisions. The ability to in-product update Fusion and Workstation will not likely return based on their decisions to only allow in-product updates to paying customers (i.e. those with active subscriptions - for which there isn't one available for Fusion). They are looking to see if they can get notification of new versions into the product without violating the corporate rules they're subjected to.
> Have they put out even one press release on all of the bugs?
I doubt you're going to see any "press release" on "all of the bugs". Quite honestly there haven't been a lot of reported bugs in Fusion 25H2. As with most community forums like this, you can't get an indication of how buggy a product is simply by looking at users posting publicly that they've found a bug. People usually don't post when things are working well.
This is not to say that there aren't issues that impact users. Reality, though, lies between "there are no bugs at all" and "the product doesn't work at all because it's bug ridden".
Given the support policy for the desktop hypervisor products, the best place to get any indication of known bugs are the release notes and this forum. In my experience (since Fusion 1.0) is that there's not a comprehensive list of reported bugs published by Broadcom. Security issues get advertised through Broadcom security advisories. Other issues may get a tech note, but that's not guaranteed.
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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
Original Message:
Sent: Nov 12, 2025 02:28 PM
From: Austin Wright
Subject: "The update server could not be resolved" error when checking for Fusion upgrades.
> Broadcom is aware of this issue.
Are they though? Have they put out even one press release on all of the bugs? How difficult is it to put up a file at a certain URL?
Original Message:
Sent: Apr 08, 2025 05:44 PM
From: Technogeezer
Subject: "The update server could not be resolved" error when checking for Fusion upgrades.
This question has been asked frequently enough that it warrants its own topic.
Since 24-Mar-2025 any attempt to check for updates within any Fusion version through the menu item VMware Fusion > Check for updates... is displaying a dialog with the following error message:
"The update server could not be resolved."
This error message is caused by a change in Broadcom's process for VMware products to perform in-product updates. They have removed publicly accessible update servers. Software updates now require an authorization token to access their new software update infrastructure. This token is user-specific and is tied to a product entitlement (that is, a subscription). Fusion does not have subscription or support entitlements, so there's no authorization token that's available for the new software update servers.
Because of these changes, in-product updates for Fusion (and Workstation) are no longer available. See https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?articleNumber=395172 for the official notification.
These changes do not impact the manual download of Fusion installation media from Broadcom's support portal. The process for downloading Fusion media remains the same.
The recommended workaround for users wishing to upgrade Fusion is to download installation media for Fusion 13.5.2 or later from Broadcom's support portal and run the installer to upgrade Fusion. .
Since in-product update notification is no longer provided, to determine if there are new versions of Fusion, you can:
Broadcom is aware of this issue. At this time they have not commented on whether in-product upgrades will return to Fusion . They also have not provided a mechanism in-product for users to be notified of the availability of a new Fusion version -- other than watching for new releases to appear in the Broadcom support portal.
Note that this new policy has also eliminated the access to any Fusion version prior to 13.5.2. Unofficial workarounds that described how to access the software update infrastructure to obtain no-longer-supported Fusion versions no longer work.
(Edited on 13-May-2025 for to reflect availability of a new KB article on this topic)
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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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