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VMware Workstation Pro is Broadcom's desktop hypervisor for Windows, running Windows, Linux and FreeBSD machines in their own windows on your PC with snapshots and cloning, free for personal and commercial use with no license key.
VMware Workstation Pro runs complete operating systems in their own windows on your Windows desktop, with no license key, no subscription and no paid tier above it.
The 26H1 release is the one long-time users had been waiting for, because the Windows application is finally native 64-bit.
You can download VMware Workstation Pro for Windows here, and the same page keeps the previous 25H2 builds if you have a reason to stay on one.
What It Actually Does
Workstation Pro creates virtual machines - fully isolated computers that run inside Windows. Each one gets its own processor cores, memory and graphics allocation, and you can install Windows 11, Windows Server, a Linux distribution or FreeBSD in it.
The guest appears in a window and behaves like a real PC, except that you can pause it, snapshot it, clone it or delete it without touching the computer you are sitting at. That seal is also why it is the safest place to open a file you do not trust: a snapshot taken beforehand puts the machine back to a clean state in seconds.
What's New in 26H1
The headline is the 64-bit rebuild. Every binary, library and background service now runs as a 64-bit process, which means better memory handling for large virtual machines - and since Workstation has needed 64-bit Windows on the host for years, this changes the program rather than the system requirements.
The smaller additions:
- Each machine now records when it was created and when it was last powered on, which is the fastest way to find the right one in a large library.
- Notes attached to a machine show in its folder tab, so you can see what a VM was for without opening it.
- Workstation can connect to ARM-based VMware ESX hosts for basic remote operations.
- The credential manager now identifies encrypted machines and remote servers clearly.
- Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, Fedora 43, Fedora 44, SUSE Linux Enterprise 16, openSUSE 16.0 and FreeBSD 15.0 all install without workarounds.
Where 26H1u1 fits. The September 2026 update adds no features. It closes two security vulnerabilities, adds automated Secure Boot platform key remediation for vTPM-enabled Windows machines, and fixes three interface bugs.
Free, and What the Catch Is
There is no catch, which is unusual enough to be worth saying plainly. It is free for commercial, educational and personal use, it asks for no license key, and the full Pro feature set is in the installer.
| What matters | Workstation Pro | Hyper-V | VirtualBox |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free, no license key | Included with Windows | Free and open source |
| Windows edition needed | Any, including Home | Pro, Enterprise or Education only | Any, including Home |
| Snapshots and cloning | Branching snapshot tree, clone wizard | Checkpoints, one chain per machine | Branching tree, full and linked clones |
| Business use | Allowed, no key | Allowed | Base package yes, the Extension Pack needs a paid license |
If you are on Windows Home, Hyper-V is not available to you and the decision is already made. And you no longer have to choose: since Workstation 16 it runs alongside Hyper-V, WSL2 and Docker on the Windows Hypervisor Platform, at a small performance cost, so the old advice about tearing Hyper-V out is usually unnecessary.
Before Your First Virtual Machine
Check virtualization first. Open Task Manager, go to the Performance tab and select CPU. If the panel reads "Virtualization: Disabled", no virtual machine will boot until you enable it in your BIOS or UEFI setup, and that is the most common reason a first attempt fails.
You will also need an installer image for whatever you plan to run, plus enough spare memory and disk for a second computer. If you only want the files out of an ISO rather than a bootable system, it is quicker to mount the ISO in Windows or open it with 7-Zip.
Playing Video Inside a Virtual Machine
A guest is a clean install, so it has none of the codecs your main Windows has collected over the years. That is why a file that plays fine on the host throws a format error the moment you open it in a VM.
- K-Lite Codec Pack sets up the whole DirectShow stack from one installer, which is what most guests need.
- LAV Filters is the leaner option if you only want decoders.
- VLC Media Player needs no codec setup at all and behaves the same in a guest as on the host.
On the host side, Media Preview generates thumbnails for files you copy in and out of machines, and FFmpeg handles conversion between guest and host folders.
If you run games or accelerated apps in a guest, keep DirectX current on both sides.
When a file still refuses to play, our Codec Checker reads what is actually inside it from the browser and the Codec Troubleshooter walks through the usual causes. Neither needs anything installed in the guest, which helps when the guest is the broken part.
Who Should Look Elsewhere
- Task Manager shows virtualization disabled and you cannot reach your firmware settings. Some locked-down work laptops will not allow it, and without it no machine powers on.
- You only want the contents of a disc image. Mounting or extracting it takes seconds - a virtual machine is a lot of work to read a few files.
- You want Android apps rather than a desktop system. Better to run Android on a PC from a portable SSD and get the real thing on real hardware.
On a Mac
The matching product for macOS is VMware Fusion Pro for Mac, also free as of 26H1 and also without a license key. The two share the same virtual machine format, so copying a machine's folder from a PC to a Mac and opening it there is usually all it takes.
Quick questions
Is VMware Workstation Pro really free?
Yes. Free for commercial, educational and personal use, no license key to enter, and no paid edition above it. The full Pro feature set is in the installer.
Will it run on 32-bit Windows?
No, and it has not for a long time. It needs a 64-bit version of Windows on the host; what changed in 26H1 is that the application itself is now 64-bit as well.
Do I have to turn Hyper-V off first?
Usually not. Since Workstation 16 it can run on the Windows Hypervisor Platform alongside Hyper-V, WSL2 and Docker, at a small performance cost, so the teardown instructions you will find elsewhere are often out of date.
Why will videos not play inside my virtual machine?
A fresh guest has almost no codecs. Install the K-Lite Codec Pack inside it, or use VLC Media Player, which brings its own decoders.
Why does my virtual machine refuse to start?
In most cases hardware virtualization is switched off. Check Task Manager, Performance, CPU for "Virtualization: Disabled", then enable it in your BIOS or UEFI setup.
The Other Tools category and the wider multimedia tools section cover the rest of the Windows stack you might pair with it.
The guides section goes further, including the best free video codecs for HD streaming if you are setting a guest up for video work.
Download VMware Workstation Pro 26H1u1 and see how it handles your first virtual machine, or tell us how you got on if you have used it before.
