There are several legitimate reasons why users (IT professionals, students, and homelab enthusiasts) turn to index directories:
| From Version | Upgrade to 17.x | Notes | |--------------|----------------|-------| | 15.x – 16.x | ✅ Direct | Some VM hardware versions need upgrade | | 12.x – 14.x | ✅ Via intermediate (recommend fresh VM upgrade) | VM hardware v13+ required | | 10.x – 11.x | ❌ Not supported directly | Reinstall + recreate VMs | index of vmware workstation new
Let’s break that down.
The current flagship version of VMware Workstation is , released in late 2025. This version marks a major shift to calendar-based versioning and follows the landmark decision by to make Workstation Pro free for all users What's New in VMware Workstation 25H2 deep blog post There are several legitimate reasons why users (IT