Broadcom pulls VDDK downloads, blocking VMware migration tools

Broadcom has removed the public download pages for VMware's Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK), a library that many tools rely on to migrate workloads off VMware, including Microsoft Azure Migrate, Red Hat's Migration Toolkit for Virtualization (MTV), Nutanix Move, and open-source tools such as virtv2v and nbdkit. Visiting the old download link now returns a 404 page, and no Broadcom announcement, transition notice, or deprecation notice explaining the change has surfaced. The removal was first documented by ShapeBlue on August 25, 2026, after the company found that VDDK pages referenced in its own VMware-to-KVM migration documentation were returning errors; testing of multiple version-specific paths for VDDK 8 and 9 showed all of them unavailable. Customers who opened support tickets report Broadcom telling them the VDDK is "no longer available for use or download" and pointing them instead to backup and recovery products from Broadcom Technology Alliance Partners. Discussion threads on Reddit's r/sysadmin and r/vmware describe the same experience, though one VMware-subreddit thread on the topic was later removed by moderators. The effect has reached major vendors directly. Microsoft has updated its Azure Migrate documentation to warn that Broadcom may restrict access to the VDDK, and now tells admins to fall back to agent-based migration if agentless migration, which needs the VDDK on the Azure Migrate appliance, is unavailable. Red Hat published a support article on August 27, 2026, noting that customers may get a "not found" or "access denied" error trying to download VDDK images for MTV; because the software is proprietary to Broadcom, Red Hat says it cannot host or redistribute the package itself and is telling customers to contact Broadcom support directly. Red Hat Engineering is investigating longer-term alternatives, including storage copy offload where the underlying storage vendor supports it. A Nutanix Community user reported hitting a 404 while trying to get VDDK 7.0.3.1 and VDDK 8.0.3.2 for a Nutanix Move migration from ESXi to AHV, even after logging into their Broadcom account; another poster said Broadcom support told them VDDK access had moved into VMware's Technology Alliance Program and now requires a partner relationship. Platform9, whose vJailbreak project migrates workloads off VMware, published a post on September 1, 2026 calling out the restricted access directly and noting its own VDDK-plus-NBD migration path is affected for customers who do not already hold the needed files; the company is pointing users toward its storage-assisted and proxy-VM-based alternatives that skip the VDDK. One migration path is unaffected: Proxmox's built-in import utility does not depend on the VDDK to pull VMware workloads across, so VMware-to-Proxmox migrations continue to work as before. Any third-party tool that does rely on the VDDK, however, is affected regardless of destination platform.

Key facts

Broadcom has removed the public download pages for VMware's VDDK, and customers report Broadcom support telling them it is 'no longer available for use or download.'
VDDK underpins major migration tools, including Microsoft Azure Migrate, Red Hat's Migration Toolkit for Virtualization, Nutanix Move, virtv2v, and nbdkit.
ShapeBlue documented the removal on August 25, 2026; Red Hat published a support article about it on August 27, 2026; Platform9 called it out on September 1, 2026.
Microsoft now warns Azure Migrate admins to use agent-based migration if they cannot obtain the VDDK; Red Hat says it cannot redistribute the proprietary library and is investigating alternatives such as storage copy offload.
Proxmox's built-in import utility does not depend on the VDDK, so VMware-to-Proxmox migrations are unaffected.

Why it matters

VDDK is not an obscure developer package; it is the plumbing behind most of the tooling that lets VMware customers move workloads to another platform or back them up. Pulling its public availability, with no announced reason and no replacement, lands squarely on customers who are already trying to plan an exit from VMware after Broadcom's acquisition, and it does so without any stated timeline for when or whether access returns.

Who it affects

VMware customers actively migrating or planning to migrate off vSphere, and the vendors whose tools they rely on to do it: Microsoft (Azure Migrate's agentless path), Red Hat (Migration Toolkit for Virtualization, feeding OpenShift Virtualization), Nutanix (Nutanix Move), and smaller or open-source projects such as virtv2v, nbdkit, and Platform9's vJailbreak. Customers already mid-migration who lack a local copy of the VDDK are the most exposed.

How to use it

There is no official replacement path. Broadcom has reportedly told customers to contact support directly to request access, or to go through Technology Alliance Partners; Red Hat directs customers the same way since it cannot redistribute the proprietary library itself. Where a tool's approach does not depend on the VDDK at all, such as Proxmox's built-in VMware import utility, migrations continue unaffected; Platform9 similarly offers storage-assisted and proxy-VM migration modes that avoid the VDDK dependency for its vJailbreak users.

How solid is it

The pattern is corroborated across multiple independent sources: ShapeBlue's own testing of version-specific VDDK 8 and 9 paths, Red Hat's own support article, Microsoft's updated Azure Migrate documentation, a Nutanix Community user's reported 404, and several separate Reddit support-ticket reports describing the same message from Broadcom Customer Care. No single source is authoritative on Broadcom's motive, since Broadcom itself has not issued a public statement, but the consistency across unrelated vendors and customers over about a week (August 25 to September 1, 2026) makes an unannounced, apparently intentional withdrawal the best-supported reading of the evidence.

Risks and caveats

Broadcom has not confirmed the change publicly, so its scope, permanence, and rationale are inferred from customer support responses and vendor documentation rather than from any Broadcom statement. No timeline for a fix or reinstatement has been given. The article's suggestion that this is connected to VMware reportedly reviving a Standard edition, framed as looking like vendor lock-in, is the author's own speculation and is not something the source material otherwise supports.

“no longer available for use or download”

— Broadcom Customer Care, as relayed by a customer in a support ticket