In December 2019, VirtualBox removed support for software-based virtualization and exclusively performs hardware-assisted virtualization. įollowing the acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle Corporation in January 2010, the product was re-branded as "Oracle VM VirtualBox". Sun Microsystems acquired InnoTek in February 2008. Specifically, InnoTek developed the "additions" code in both Windows Virtual PC and Microsoft Virtual Server, which enables various host–guest OS interactions like shared clipboards or dynamic viewport resizing. InnoTek also contributed to the development of OS/2 and Linux support in virtualization and OS/2 ports of products from Connectix which were later acquired by Microsoft. In January 2007, based on counsel by LiSoG, InnoTek released VirtualBox Open Source Edition (OSE) as free and open-source software, subject to the requirements of the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2. VirtualBox was first offered by InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH, a German company based in Weinstadt, under a proprietary software license, making one version of the product available at no cost for personal or evaluation use, subject to the VirtualBox Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL). History Logo of VirtualBox OSE, 2007–2010 The License to VirtualBox was relicensed to GPLv3 with linking exceptions to the CDDL and other GPL-incompatible licenses. Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License and, optionally, the CDDL for most files of the source distribution, VirtualBox is free and open-source software, though the Extension Pack is proprietary software, free of charge only to personal users. For some guest operating systems, a "Guest Additions" package of device drivers and system applications is available, which typically improves performance, especially that of graphics, and allows changing the resolution of the guest OS automatically when the window of the virtual machine on the host OS is resized. It supports the creation and management of guest virtual machines running Windows, Linux, BSD, OS/2, Solaris, Haiku, and OSx86, as well as limited virtualization of macOS guests on Apple hardware. There are also ports to FreeBSD and Genode. VirtualBox may be installed on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Solaris and OpenSolaris. VirtualBox was originally created by InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH, which was acquired by Sun Microsystems in 2008, which was in turn acquired by Oracle in 2010.
Oracle VM VirtualBox (formerly Sun VirtualBox, Sun xVM VirtualBox and InnoTek VirtualBox) is a hosted hypervisor for x86 virtualization developed by Oracle Corporation. GNU GPLv3 only with linking exception to GNU GPLv2 incompatible licenses X86-64 only (version series 5.x and earlier work on IA-32) Allowing you to virtualize and work with different operating systems under different conditions.Windows, macOS (only Intel-based Macs), Linux and Solaris In general, VM VirtualBox is one of the most powerful free virtualization programs. VirtualBox is an extremely popular virtualization software and you may find a lot of tutorials and guides online if you ever find a problem using it. However, we have had a few problems installing it on some Linux distribution. This little tool allows you to share the files between the systems and featuring the full-screen option as well. It also allows you to integrate your host OS with your virtualized one by using a Guest-addon extension which you can install within the application. It’s enough to simply select the ISO file of your OS you want to virtualize, and VirtualBox will do the rest – simple as that!
It is an amazingly fast software which is quite easy to set up and start your project.
It is free and it does not cost anything! It is the best tool to test new operating systems, specialized software or emulate scenarios that can occur within a deeply controlled environment. Some features from Fusion and Parallels aren’t available in VirtualBox as it can’t print automatically to the host printer and requires manual setups OS integration features. VirtualBox runs almost any version of Windows, Linux, and most other Intel-based operating systems on a Mac, Windows, or Linux desktop.