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WalterGR
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Can a paid VMware Fusion 12 Player license be downgraded?

I am currently on Fusion 8.  I wanted to upgrade to Fusion 11, but in the middle of my researching that upgrade, Fusion 12 was released and 11 is no longer available for purchase.

Can a paid VMware Fusion 12 Player license be downgraded to Fusion 11?

Thanks.

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Hello15
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Hi! I tried that before posting, and I don't have that menu. Is it because I have the free license for 12? I can call today to see if I can get help but I was trying to test before buying. 

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Hello15
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Apparently you can only do this by buying the Pro version. I need to get an activation for Version 10. 

 

If I buy Version 12 Pro, what does the mean for downgrading to Version 10? I know it's possible, but will I have to repurchase a license each year?

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ColoradoMarmot
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Paid versions can be downgraded.  The license for a particular version is perpetual - it's only new version that require new purchases.

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RP3
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i Have fusion 11.5.3  on high sierra, I  tried using the license for version 12 but i'm getting invalid version.  Any way to get a version 11.5.3, i'm unable to upgrade this mac to a higher version of fusion or mac os 

my current version of 11.5.3 has expired 

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scott28tt
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@RP3 

Buy a license for Fusion 12 Pro, downgrade it to a v11 license key.

 


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
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RP3
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I have vs 12 the license code does not work and i don't see a way to get an 11 key

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ColoradoMarmot
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A paid key should work.  The free ones don't.

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scott28tt
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@RP3 

I was very specific that it would need to be Fusion 12 Pro


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
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gnprice2000
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Wow!  Talk about market confusion!  I'm running Mojave (I know - an ancient and archaic OS from back in the old times of circa 2019).  I just download and installed Fusion 11.5.7 and would love to buy a license for it.  However, when I click on the "Buy" button, it takes me to version 12 landing page where there is no mention of older version 11 or any associated license information.  What exactly does "downgrading" a v12 license do or even mean?  Why not just simply sell me an 11 license when I click "Buy" on the v11 install - too simple I guess.  The world seems to be run by mall-cops with MBA's these days.  Anyways, my ultimate solution will be to just drag my new install to the trash and install Parallels Desktop 17 (with active support for Mojave).

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dempson
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"Downgrading" a licence (which is free, and is done through the My VMware portal) means you are revoking your right to run the version you bought (12 Pro) and are replacing it with a right to run the older version (11.0 or 11.5 are both covered by the Fusion 11 Pro licence).

This is by no means unique to VMware - I've encountered the same concept with other software where your licence covers a specific version, e.g. I downgraded one of my FileMaker Pro licences because I wanted the previous version for compatibility reasons.

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ColoradoMarmot
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You buy 12, and then that license key will work with 11.  It's not permanent.

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dempson
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Thanks for the correction. That's better than other companies I've dealt with.

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gnprice2000
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This is good to know! Just to summarize my understanding at this point, a Version 12 Pro license (not Version 12 Player) will work with Version 11.5.7.  However, this "downgraded" usage case does NOT revoke nor surrender my ability to reuse the v12 pro license once I have moved on beyond Mojave.  Assuming my understanding is correct, then this will work nicely for what I need.  Finally, I've read that a single v12 pro Fusion license can be simultaneously used on more than one machine.  Turns out, this is not the case for Parallels.  I would need to buy a separate license to activate each machine 😞

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ColoradoMarmot
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Correct on all counts!

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