Broadcom has removed all official download options for the VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit, or VDDK. The kit is no longer regularly available, which mainly makes it harder for administrators to switch to other providers. Anyone who already downloaded the VDDK can keep using it.
The VDDK is a collection of libraries and APIs for accessing virtual disk files. Officially designed as a backup and recovery solution, it's widely used in practice as the foundation for migration tools that move VMware environments to other platforms. According to a Reddit post, the downloads were already removed in early August 2026, without any notice from the vendor, which is why it only became apparent later.
Broadcom points to licensing terms
Broadcom confirmed to IT publication TechTarget that download options for the VDDK have "recently" changed, which in practice means every official download option has been disabled. The company stresses that under the SDK license, the VDDK was "always" intended for use in backup and recovery solutions built by its TAP partners, companies that work with Broadcom products and offer their own solutions built on top of them. According to Broadcom, the current change merely reaffirms those terms. In a statement to The Register, Broadcom said the VDDK remains available through select TAPs for the licensed use case, and that customers needing backup and recovery functionality can choose from the many approved solutions those partners already offer.
No customer entitlement, but new costs
Broadcom also makes clear that the VDDK is not a customer entitlement, but a software development kit under its own developer license that was never part of the scope of any Broadcom software purchase. Until now, though, the kit was free to use, while third-party solutions typically come with additional costs. The move follows earlier changes to VMware licensing and pricing. In forums and comments, it's largely being read as an attempt to make it even harder for customers to switch to other virtualization providers.