[Deprecated] VMware Workstation Player

## DEPRECATED

VMware Workstation Player was **discontinued in May 2024** when VMware Workstation Pro became free for personal use.

As of November 2024, VMware Workstation Pro is **free for all users** (commercial, educational, and personal) and no longer requires a license key.

### Why was Player discontinued?

VMware Workstation Player was a stripped-down version of Workstation Pro. Since Workstation Pro is now free with no functional limitations, there is no longer a need for a separate Player product.

### What happens when you install this package?

This deprecated package depends on **[vmwareworkstation](https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/vmwareworkstation)**, the VMware Workstation Pro package.

**Note:** The vmwareworkstation package has been retired because Broadcom now requires account authentication to download VMware Workstation Pro. See that package for alternatives.

---

### Migration

To migrate manually:

```powershell

choco uninstall vmware-workstation-player

```

### Alternatives

- **VMware Workstation Pro** - Download directly from [Broadcom](https://support.broadcom.com) (free, requires account)

- **VirtualBox** - Free and open source: `choco install virtualbox`

- **Hyper-V** - Built into Windows Pro/Enterprise.