Oracle VM VirtualBox is an industrial-strength open source virtualisation tool that makes it easy to create virtual machines (VMs), simulated computers that run on your PC but act as though they were separate systems. It's a powerful capability that has many different applications.
If you'd like a closer look at Windows 10 before you upgrade, for instance, then you could install Microsoft's latest in a VM, then access it in a window on your XP or Vista desktop.
Or maybe you've upgraded to Windows 10 and find a favourite old app doesn't work any more? Create a Windows XP VM and you might be able to run it again.
VirtualBox can also be a useful security tool: if you download and test apps in a VM, then any malware you might encounter will be isolated from your main system.
And it's the perfect choice if you want to try out another operating system with the minimum of hassle. Right now you can install Google Chrome OS, all the mainstream Linux variants (2.4 and 2.6), OpenBSD, OS/2, ReactOS, SkyOS, DOS, and just about every version of Windows there's ever been. (Of course you'll need to have the system discs to hand.)
VirtualBox 6 included an interface redesign, making it easier to view and manage your virtual machines. VM displays can now be scaled, so you can reduce a window size by half (for instance) and still see everything that's going on. The ability to limit a VM's CPU and IO time means the program will be less of a drain on your system's resources, and there are a host of other performance optimisations and bug fixes available.
Verdict:
This professional quality virtualization package must be one of the most powerful open source tools around
Changelog
What's new in VirtualBox 7.0.12 (see changelog for more)?
- VMM: Fixed using a debugger inside the guest under certain circumstances (bugs #21413 and #21546)
- VMM: Fixed detection of VT-x being used by other hypervisors (bug #21867)
- VMM: Introduced additional improvements in Split Lock Detection feature of recent Intel CPUs on Linux hosts (bug #20180)
- GUI: Fixed issue when the nested hardware virtualization setting was not displayed in the VM details panel (bug #21707)
- GUI: Introduced NLS update for Croatian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch and Turkish languages as well as added general look-and-feel improvements
- Devices: Fixed black screen in Windows guests with multiple guest screens when 3D is disabled (7.0.10 regression)
- Devices: Fixed
- PCI device identifiers for the VirtIO network interface (bug #21516)
- Devices: Fixed VLAN support for the VirtIO network interface (bug #21778)
- Devices: Fixed loading saved states when a TPM is configured (7.0.10 regression, bug #21773)
- Networking: Fixed memory leaks in the VBoxIntNetSwitch process on macOS (bug #21752)
- Networking: Fixed TCP connections with IP addresses ending on .2 when the NAT network attachment is used (bug #21513)
- Audio: Fixed switching host audio devices on Windows hosts using the WAS backend (bugs #20431, #21517, #20630 and #20723)
- VRDP: Added general improvements
- VBoxManage: Added improvements for "list usbfilters" command
- Unattended: Added kick start file support for Oracle Linux 8 and Oracle Linux 9.
- Main: Added more Linux OS subtypes
- Host Services: Fixed Guest Properties service crash under rare circumstance
- Linux Host and Guest: Fixed few "field-spanning write" kernel warnings (bugs #21410 and #21862)
- Linux Guest Additions: Added more fixes for RHEL 8.9 and 9.3 kernel
- Linux Guest Additions: Added more fixes for kernel 6.4
- Linux Guest Additions: Added initial support for OpenSUSE 15.5 kernel
- Linux Guest Additions: Added initial support for kernels 6.5 and 6.6
- Linux Guest Additions: Added version reporting for "rcvboxadd status-kernel" and "rcvboxadd status-user" commands
- BIOS: Restored support for ISA SCSI HBAs in the BIOS (bug #21736)
Your Comments & Opinion
www.downloadcrew.com reply:
Hi Ed, not sure what you mean? Windows 8 is listed as a supported operating system?
for Daemon Lite. Wish I hadn't - Ive wasted a lot of time trying to figure out how to use it. No simple straightforward instructions - all I want to do is mount an iso file! The usual FAQ section from a software developer who wants you to do all the hard work! I'd be REALLY peeved if I had paid for this!
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