Broadcom ends public access to VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit

Broadcom has ended the public availability of the VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK), a software development kit used for backup, recovery, and cloning of virtual disks. The removal of public downloads, which occurred around late August 2026, impacts various migration tools and services that rely on the SDK to move virtual machines from VMware environments to alternative platforms.

Major competitors and migration tools, including Nutanix’s Move, Red Hat’s Migration Toolkit, and Microsoft’s Azure Migrate, have utilized VDDK for their operations. Integrators such as ShapeBlue have noted that the sudden removal of the download links creates challenges for open-source projects and smaller consultancies that lack direct partner relationships with Broadcom.

VMware has defended the decision, stating that a vendor is entitled to change how it distributes an SDK. The company clarified that access to the VDDK is not entirely eliminated but remains available through select Technology Alliance Partners (TAPs).