Broadcom has pulled public downloads of VMware's Virtual Disk Development Kit, the toolkit widely used to move virtual machines off vSphere. For UK teams planning an exit, the change narrows access to backup and recovery partners, making VMware migration alternatives a more pressing consideration for many.
View the data behind this chart
| Phase | Starts (week) | Duration (weeks) |
|---|---|---|
| Open-source lockdown pledge | 0 | 1 |
| vSphere Standard refocus | 1 | 1 |
| VDDK downloads pulled | 2 | 1 |
| Forum confirms lockout | 3 | 1 |
What actually changed, and when
The Register reported that VMware's public download pages for the Virtual Disk Development Kit, or VDDK, were taken down on or around 9–10 September 2026. The kit had previously been freely available for download; now it is not. This is not a rumoured or upcoming restriction — as of today it is an in-force change, confirmed directly by VMware to the publication.
VDDK is the software development kit that lets applications read, write and manipulate VMware virtual disk files. It underpins a huge slice of the ecosystem: backup vendors use it to snapshot and restore VMs, and migration tool vendors use it to lift virtual disks out of vSphere and into rival platforms such as Proxmox, KVM-based stacks or other clouds.
VMware's position: backup and recovery only
VMware's own explanation to The Register draws a hard line around what the VDDK is for. The company said: "Access to the VDDK is still available through select TAP for its licensed use case, which has always been backup and recovery," adding that "customers needing backup and recovery capabilities can choose from the many approved solutions already available from these partners."
VMware also pushed back on the idea that this was ever a customer entitlement in the first place, stating plainly that the VDDK "is not a customer entitlement. It is a software development kit covered by its own developer license and was never included with a Broadcom software purchase." Read together, the two statements support VMware's framing that the tool's licensed purpose is backup and recovery; The Register and other coverage interpret this as not extending to assisting customers to leave the platform.
Where migration teams now sit legally
The practical implication reported is stark: VDDK access remains open only through selected Technology Alliance Partners for licensed backup-and-recovery use, while using the same tool to migrate workloads to a competing hypervisor is treated by VMware as outside the licensed use case entirely. For a UK infrastructure team mid-way through a phased exit, that reframes a previously routine SDK download into a policy grey area.
This is a licensing and access dispute, not a security vulnerability — there is no CVE tied to this change, and none should be assumed. The tension is over permitted use, not a flaw to patch. Teams relying on VDDK-based migration tooling should treat continued access as contingent on partner status and stated purpose, not as a guaranteed technical capability going forward.
What still works: third-party and partner routes
Corroborating reporting from the same news cycle, including The Register's 31 August and 2 September 2026 coverage, shows this sits inside a broader pattern of Broadcom tightening control over VMware's software supply chain rather than a one-off decision. A Veeam community resource likewise describes the Broadcom Support Portal as the sanctioned channel through which entitled customers pull VMware ISOs, patches and license management — reinforcing that access is increasingly gated by entitlement status across the board, not just for VDDK.
For backup and recovery specifically, the approved-partner route VMware points to remains functional today. Teams should validate their current backup platform's VDDK access with their vendor directly, and use that conversation to properly size ongoing needs via backup and recovery sizing rather than assuming existing integrations are unaffected long-term. Broader options for keeping legacy estates supported without a full Broadcom renewal are covered under third-party maintenance paths.
Building an exit plan around a narrowing toolkit
The exact eligibility criteria for "select TAP" partners, and precisely which third-party migration tools retain working VDDK access under that arrangement, has not been fully disclosed publicly — so UK buyers should confirm current access status with any migration tooling vendor before committing a project timeline to it.
This is a reasonable moment to stress-test the renewal-versus-migrate calculation properly. Teams still weighing whether to stay on vSphere under Broadcom's subscription terms or commit to leaving should work through the framework in our guide to decide between VMware renewal or migration, and those already committed to leaving should revisit the sequencing in our phased plan to migrate off VMware given that a key tool's availability can no longer be assumed. Budget holders should also calculate VMware migration costs with this dependency risk factored in, and teams eyeing an open-source target platform can review the specifics of how to migrate to Proxmox.
View the data behind this chart
| Broadcom TAP | Public VDDK | 3rd-Party Tool | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backup & recovery use | Licensed, allowed | Formerly allowed | Varies by vendor |
| Migration to rivals | Not authorised | Not authorised | Often supported |
| Public download access | Partner portal only | Removed Sep 2026 | Vendor site |
| Entitlement needed | Partner agreement | None (was free) | License purchase |
The wider Broadcom pattern
This VDDK move does not sit in isolation. Read alongside earlier reporting on Broadcom's tightening of open-source library policies and its renewed push around vSphere Standard licensing, it points to a company steadily consolidating control over every layer that touches a VMware estate — software downloads, developer tooling, and support portals alike. Our overview of the post-Broadcom VMware landscape tracks how these individual changes add up for buyers planning multi-year infrastructure decisions.
For procurement teams evaluating hardware refreshes alongside a hypervisor change, it's worth locking in server platform decisions independently of the software dispute. Reviewing server configuration options through the Dell server configurator, HPE server configurator or Lenovo server configurator ensures hardware procurement isn't held hostage to an evolving software licensing dispute.
- 01The Register — VMware defends ending downloads of SDK that helps VM backups or migrations to rivals · 10 September 2026
- 02The Register — Broadcom pledges to lock down open-source Python, Java libraries · 31 August 2026
- 03The Register — VMware swings its focus back to low-end server virt, promises vSphere Standard upgrade · 2 September 2026
- 04The Register Forums — discussion thread · 10 September 2026
- 05Veeam Community — Instructions for downloading software licenses from new Broadcom Support Portal · 1 January 2026
- 06theregister.com
- 07arstechnica.com
- 08computerweekly.com