The news
By August 25, 2026, Broadcom (AVGO) had removed public download pages for the VMware VDDK (Virtual Disk Development Kit), a library migration and backup software uses to copy virtual machine disks, making VMware exits harder to carry out with planned tools.
Cloud consultancy ShapeBlue reported on August 25 that VDDK download addresses, including pages for versions 8.0 and 9.0, now returned a generic page-not-found error. ShapeBlue said it had found no Broadcom statement withdrawing public access, limiting VDDK to selected partners or explaining the change.
Platform9, which sells a competing migration product called vJailbreak, dates the cutoff to August 25 and said Broadcom removed the standard public links without warning. Neither firm cited any advance notice from Broadcom to customers.
The library matters because many tools rely on it. According to Network World and the Virtualization Howto site, products that use VDDK include Microsoft's Azure Migrate, Red Hat's Migration Toolkit for Virtualization, Nutanix Move and open-source converters such as virt-v2v. The Register reported that Nutanix Move requires the VDDK library and that Red Hat recommends it for migrations.
Not every route out of VMware depends on VDDK. Virtualization Howto noted that Proxmox's built-in import tool does not need it, and Platform9 described storage-assisted and proxy-based methods that avoid it. ShapeBlue advised organizations to secure existing copies, record versions and checksums, test an OVF export fallback and ask their Broadcom account team for its availability policy in writing.
The numbers
- Date ShapeBlue reported the VDDK pages offline
- August 25, 2026
- VDDK versions whose download pages returned errors (ShapeBlue)
- 8.0 and 9.0
- Share of migrating workloads headed to public cloud IaaS (CloudBolt survey, January 2026)
- 72%
Why CEOs should care
For CIOs and infrastructure leaders with a VMware exit underway, the first step is an inventory: which of your migration and backup tools call VDDK, and does the vendor ship it under its own Broadcom partner license or expect you to download it? Re-run a test migration in a lab before the next wave, and ask each tool vendor in writing how they will support you if VDDK is unavailable.
CFOs should treat this as schedule risk with a price tag. If migrations slow down, workloads may still be on VMware when renewal dates arrive, which weakens your hand in negotiations. Build slack into the plan, price in agent-based or storage-assisted alternatives, and consider negotiating short bridging terms rather than a long renewal under time pressure.
CISOs and legal teams should block the shortcut of pulling VDDK from unofficial mirrors or file-sharing sites; unverified binaries in a migration pipeline are a supply-chain risk. If you rely on a copy you already hold, verify its checksum against a trusted record and confirm the license terms that cover your use.
The bigger picture
Network World described the change as the latest in a series of moves since Broadcom bought VMware, including higher prices, less favorable support terms and product bundling. Survey data suggest customers are trimming rather than fleeing: in a survey released February 17, 2026, CloudBolt said 86% of respondents were actively reducing their VMware footprint and 72% of migrating workloads were headed to public cloud infrastructure, the kind of move tools such as Azure Migrate are built for.
Regulators are already looking at related concerns. According to an EU General Court order of August 3, 2026, the European Commission received information alleging that Broadcom limits interoperability, among other practices, in the VMware market. Those allegations are unproven.
What happened next
In a September 1 blog post, Platform9 quoted a Broadcom statement saying VDDK was no longer available for use or download, citing security, reliability and product features, and that Broadcom would keep APIs and SDKs for authorized technology alliance partners. On September 10, VMware told The Register that VDDK access remains available through select Technology Alliance Program partners for its licensed use case of backup and recovery. A company spokesperson told the outlet VDDK is not a customer entitlement and "was never included with a Broadcom software purchase."
On September 11, Network World reported that VDDK copies shared through the Internet Archive had been removed and that the download page had been excluded from the Wayback Machine. As of September 29, 2026, the former VDDK pages on Broadcom's developer portal still returned a 404 error. What to watch: whether Microsoft, Red Hat and Nutanix announce partner-licensed VDDK access or VDDK-free paths, and whether the European Commission's VMware inquiry takes up the issue.
