VirtualBox is a free, open source solution for running other operating systems virtually on your PC.
With VirtualBox, you can install any version of an operating system, such as Linux, Solaris, and other versions of Windows (as long as you have the original installation files, of course) and run them within your current version of Windows. The first thing you notice about VirtualBox is that it's extremely easy to setup and use. VirtualBox holds your hand through the whole process so you never feel out of your depth.
Integration with your native environment is extremely impressive. VirtualBox allows for declaring certain host directories as 'shared folders', which can then be accessed from within the operating system you're running in VirtualBox. In addition, connecting USB devices is simple - VirtualBox automatically detects new devices and asks you if you wish to use them. Unfortunately, there is no drag-and-drop function from your native desktop into VirtualBox but considering it's free, you really can't complain.
If you don't want to pay for commercial solutions and require a virtual OS for generally minor usage, VirtualBox is more than enough.
Recent changes- This is a maintenance release. The following items were fixed and/or added:
- VMM: adapted to changes in Mac OS X 10.8.2 (bug #10965)
- GUI: restored VM item tool-tip functionality (4.2 regression)
- GUI: added group item tool-tip functionality
- GUI: fixed handling of the .ova/.ovf file name association (4.2 regression)
- GUI: it was not possible to change any setting before the first VM was created (bug #10928)
- GUI: disable grouping action if all the selected items are full children list of the same group already
- GUI: added menu for runtime drag-and-drop option change
- GUI: cleanup shared-clipboard menu on visual-mode change
- GUI: make sure VM receives keyboard focus on entering fullscreen-mode on Win host (bug #11051)
- GUI: disable proxy authentication for security reasons
- 3D Support: DrawIndexedPrimitiveUP implementation fixes for the Windows WDDM video driver (bug #10929)
- Storage: fixed a release assertion in the AHCI emulation when requests where canceled with asynchronous I/O disabled
- Storage: fixed a hang during VM reset under certain circumstances (bug #10898)
- NAT: fixed a crash under rare circumstances (Windows hosts only; bug #10128)
- NAT: automatically use the host resolver if the host name server is set to some unusual loopback value (bug #10864)
- E1000: fixed a VirtualBox crash during intensive network transfers (4.2 regression; bugs #10936, #10969, #10980)
- ICH9: fixed PCI bridge initialization
- USB mouse: ensure that the last mouse event doesn't get lost if no URBs are available
- BIOS: certain legacy guests (e.g. Windows 95) didn't find the boot device after a warm reboot
- BIOS: don't trash the palette in text modes when setting the border color
- EFI: fixed OS X guest autoboot (4.2 regression)
- VBoxManage: fixed output of showvminfo --machinereadable (bug #10973)
- VBoxManage: fixed parsing of storageattach --discard (bug #11023)
- VBoxManage: fixed wrong output of the HPET setting in showvminfo (bug #11065)
- VBoxManage: fixed closing the guest session after executing a guest process via guest control
- VBoxShell: adaptions to interface name changes
- Guest Additions device: fixed a Guest Additions hang when a machine was reset after a crash
- Linux hosts / guests: Linux 3.7-rc1 fixes
- Linux Additions: support X.Org Server 1.13
- Linux Additions: fixed a hang when the X server was restarted with old guest kernels
- Linux Additions: fixed a VBoxService crash during CPU hot remove (bug fixed in ... (new)">#10964)
- Windows Additions: fixed automatic screen resize issue for NT4 guests
- OS/2 Additions: fixed shutdown hang
- OS/2 Additions: fixed mouse driver panic
- Solaris hosts: fixed autostart service going into maintenance mode after all VMs started
- Solaris hosts: fixed linking the host driver with the dtrace module
Review last updated: 19/10/12
Pros- Easy installation
- Offers many of the same features common to commercial packages
- Excellent folder sharing and USB support
- Doesn't support drag and drop
- Lacks advanced features of commercial packages
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