Workstation Pro 26H1 is the current major build — the first release of 2026. It carries forward everything in 25H2 and adds further refinements. The 25H2 line introduced calendar-based versioning and was the first major release after Broadcom made Workstation Pro free for all users in November 2024.
26H1 (the first half of 2026 release) is the current recommended download for all new installs. It builds on 25H2 with additional stability improvements, updated guest OS presets, and performance optimizations for Windows 11 hosts. Download it from the main download page.
Releases now follow YY"H"H format. 25H2 means "second half of 2025". This replaces the old 17.x line — it is the same product, just a clearer release cadence.
Lower CPU overhead in idle guests, faster snapshot operations, and better Wayland host support. Guest disk I/O on NVMe controllers is meaningfully snappier.
Vulkan 1.3 and DirectX 11 support inside guests have been hardened. Several VK_KHR_* extensions are now exposed, which fixes many recent Linux desktop environments and game launchers.
Workstation 25H2 cleanly shares the Windows Hypervisor Platform with Hyper-V, WSL2, Docker Desktop, and Windows Sandbox without the toggling dance that used to be required pre-17.5.2.
Out-of-the-box presets for Windows Server 2025, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, RHEL 10 preview, and Fedora 41.
Refreshed library sidebar, faster VM start cold path, and a new diagnostics panel that auto-collects logs when you ask for support.
Broadcom's calendar cadence puts the next major build, 26H2, in the second half of 2026. No official release date or feature list has been announced. When 26H2 ships it will appear in the download table on the home page alongside 26H1 and the 25H2 line. Until then, 26H1 is the current recommended release for all new installs.
The 17.x line received its final update at 17.6.4 and is now in maintenance mode — security backports only, no new features. If you are on 17.x and your hardware and OS are supported, upgrading to 26H1 is recommended: you get the free license (no key required), Hyper-V coexistence, better 3D acceleration, and newer guest OS presets. See the FAQ for the full upgrade rationale.