 He studied at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute and at the Novosibirsk State University, where he received his specialist degree in physics in 1963 and his Candidate of Sciences degree in 1966, studying under Roald Sagdeev.Vladimir Zakharov is married, he has 3 sons.Also, he writes poems and his works were published in Novy Mir in 1990-s and 2000-s.

After completing his Candidate of Science degree, Zakharov worked as a researcher at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in Novosibirsk, where in 1971 he completed his Doctor of Sciences degree.