It’s legal, secure, and supports modern OSes. The only limitation is one VM at a time (and no snapshots/cloning, but you can use third-party tools).
model, moving away from perpetual licenses that once allowed for permanent software ownership. The Death of the License Key vmware 9 license key new
If you absolutely must use VMware 9 because you have a proprietary VM that only works with that version (e.g., an industrial control system VM from 2013), then: It’s legal, secure, and supports modern OSes
Free for personal use on Windows and Linux. VMware Fusion Pro: Free for personal use on Mac. The Death of the License Key If you
Fast forward to today: Modern operating systems (Windows 11, modern Linux kernels, macOS Ventura+) rely on hardware features and security patches that VMware 9 simply doesn’t understand. You cannot run Windows 11 as a guest on VMware 9. You cannot take advantage of NVMe storage, TPM 2.0, or modern GPU passthrough.
Your digital life will thank you.
Windows 10/11 Pro and Enterprise include Hyper-V. It’s a Type-1 hypervisor, more stable than VMware 9, and completely free.