Will there be any updates for VMWare Workstation 17 Pro

[Daniel Dao]

Hi everyone,

I noticed in the release notes that VMware Workstation can be upgraded from version 17.x to 25.x. My question is whether there will still be updates or maintenance releases for the 17.x line, as I am currently planning to remain on version 17 for now.

If there is any official information regarding the product lifecycle and support timeline for Workstation 17.x, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you!

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[System 33]

That's my opinion, it may not be reality, but I think it will be abandoned. I've been using VMware Workstation for almost six years and I don't remember the old version being maintained.

The built-in update installer wanted to make me upgrade to the major update every time.

In addition, 17.x was a series that had a lot of problems and bugs, so I don't know if it would have been worth it for the developers to maintain it.

I hope you get an official response.

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[ninjabrum]

Broadcom won't announce patches ahead of time. From previous versions, once the new major Workstation / Fusion version is released, the prior version is no longer maintained at all. Now that it's free, there is even less of a reason for them to patch an old version or make any changes whatsoever.  

They'll simply tell you to update.

There is no support for Workstation / Fusion from Broadcom any more.  Only community support.  So you can use it indefinitely, if you wish.  It just won't get patched or any new / fixed features.

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[Technogeezer]

From what I remember as well, VMware (and now Broadcom) only provided updates to the latest shipping version of their desktop hypervisor products. They never went back and back-ported patches to other versions.

Also,if I read the software lifecycle policies correctly, a major product version version went "end of life" (no more development) when superceded by the release of a new major version. Not sure what "25H2" is considered, but I'd assume that Broadcom is going to treat it as a major version. 

In either case, I wouldnt expect any new patch releases (and only Broadcom knows if/when they'll occur) to apply to any release other than  to 25H2. As noted here, you'll need to upgrade to that latest version if you want the fixes. 

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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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