The Oracle VM VirtualBox 7.0.10 update includes bug fixes, performance and interface improvements, initial support for OpenGL 4.1, improvements to installers for various hosts, and support for new Linux kernels.
Oracle VM VirtualBox is a powerful and free virtualization product for x86 and AMD64/Intel64 architectures, designed for both corporate and home use.
Aimed at servers, desktops and embedded systems, VirtualBox is the only professional-quality virtualization solution that is also open source.
VirtualBox currently runs on Windows, Linux, Mac and Solaris hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4, 2.6, 3.x and 4.x), Solaris and OpenSolaris, OS/2 and OpenBSD.
VirtualBox has a number of key features that make it powerful and flexible in the area of virtualization. Here are some of them:
- ModularityA: VirtualBox has an extremely modular design with well-defined internal programming interfaces and a client-server design. This makes it convenient to manage from several interfaces at once. For example, you can start a virtual machine in a typical virtual machine GUI and then manage that machine from the command line or even remotely. VirtualBox also comes with a complete software development kit: even though it’s open source, you don’t have to hack the source code to write a new interface for VirtualBox.
- Descriptions of virtual machines in XML: Virtual machine configuration settings are stored entirely in XML and are independent of local machines. Virtual machine definitions can therefore be easily transferred to other computers. This means that you can easily migrate your virtual machines between different hosts.
VirtualBox 7.0.10 has a number of significant changes and improvements, including the following:
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Enhancements: There have been general improvements related to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), making VirtualBox more efficient and optimized when dealing with OCI.
- Fixes for performance issues in VMM for macOS Ventura: Performance issues in Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) for macOS Ventura have been fixed. This improves the stability and performance of virtual machines on this operating system.
- Graphics bug fixes for Windows 11 guests: Graphical bugs related to Windows 11 guests have been fixed. This ensures a smoother and more stable operation of virtual machines on this operating system.
- TPM 1.2 related crash fix: A crash fix has been added for Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 1.2. This improves the overall stability of virtual machines using this technology.
- Support for Linux kernel 6.5 and 6.4: Added support for Linux kernel 6.5 and 6.4. This expands the compatibility of VirtualBox and makes it more flexible for use in a variety of Linux environments.
New features and improvements in VirtualBox 7.0.10
The release of VirtualBox 7.0, which took place at the end of 2022, received improved support for Windows 11, full encryption and other improvements. The next technical release of VirtualBox 7.0.10 includes the following changes and improvements:
- OCI: Implemented general improvements.
- VMM: Fixed a performance issue that started with macOS Ventura 13.3 (bugs #21563, #21596).
- VMM: Fixed page table traversal when executing nested VMs, causing the release log to overflow (Intel hosts only, bug #21551).
- GUI: General improvements have been made.
- TPM: Fixed crash when VM has TPM version 1.2 (bug #21622).
- 3D: Initial support for OpenGL 4.1.
- 3D: Fixed various graphical issues with Windows 11 guests (bugs #21136, #21515).
- Guest Control/VBoxManage: Fixed “–ignore-orphaned-processes” option.
- Guest Control/VBoxManage: Fixed handling of argument 0 for a running guest process: now it can be explicitly specified with the new “–arg0” option. This will restore the behavior of earlier versions of VirtualBox.
- Audio: Now uses the PulseAudio backend when pipewire-pulse is running instead of switching to ALSA (bug #21575).
- NAT: Changed UDP proxy timeout from 18-21 to 21-24 to meet the expected timeout of 20 seconds (bug #21560).
- linux host: Added initial support for Indirect Branch Tracking (bug #21435).
- linux host: Added initial support for kernel 6.5 (Please note: Guest Additions do not yet support kernel 6.5).
- Solaris Host: Implemented general improvements in the installation area.
- Linux Host and Guest: Improved condition check when kernel modules need to be signed.
- Linux Host and Guest: Added initial support for RHEL 8.8 (bug #21692), 8.9 (bug #21690) and 9.3 (bugs #21598 and #21671) kernels.
- macOS Host and Guest: Implemented general improvements in the installation area.
- Windows Host and Guest: Implemented ECDSA support (bug #21621).
- Linux Guest Additions: Fixed an issue where kernel modules were rebuilt on every boot when the guest does not have X11 installed.
- Linux Guest Additions: Added initial support for kernel 6.4.
- Linux Guest Additions: Fixed an issue where reloading the vboxvideo module caused a kernel panic in some guest systems (bug #21740).
- Linux Guest Additions: Implemented general improvements in the installation area.
- Windows Guest Additions: Implemented general improvements in graphics drivers.
As such, VirtualBox 7.0.10 offers a number of significant improvements and bug fixes, making it an even more reliable and efficient tool for virtualization.
