Web site: www.virtualbox.org
Category: Machine Emulators
Platform: Linux, OS X, Windows, Solaris
License: GNU GPL
Interface: GUI
Wikipedia: VirtualBox
First release: January 17, 2007
VirtualBox – a general-purpose full virtualization software for x86_64 hardware (with version 7.1 additionally for macOS/Arm), targeted at laptop, desktop, server and embedded use.
Key features:
– Virtual machine state saving
– Two-sided clipboard
– Automatic screen resolution change in the guest system
– Seamless mode – windows from the guest system can be displayed directly on the host system desktop
– USB and serial port support
– Shared folders
– RDP support
– Emulation of many devices, including network and sound cards
– Support for 3D acceleration via OpenGL 2.0 and (experimentally) Direct3D 8/9 (in Windows guest systems)
– Ability to virtualize 64-bit systems on 32-bit processors
– Full support for VHD/VMDK images (used in Microsoft/VMware products)
– Hardware virtualization support (Intel VT-x and AMD-V)
– SMP support with up to 32 virtual computing units for processors with VT-x and AMD-V
– SCSI controller support
– Open Virtualization Format support
– Multiple network modes (NAT, internal, etc.)
VirtualBox was created by the German company innotek for x86 and x64 Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux. It supports systems such as Windows, Linux, OS/2 Warp, OpenBSD (support for this system is not yet stable) and FreeBSD. After several years of development, VirtualBox was released under the GPL license in January 2007. The open version lacks several features, available only in the proprietary version (free for personal and test use).
On February 12, 2008, Sun Microsystems announced the acquisition of innotek.
On January 27, 2010, Sun was acquired by Oracle Corporation.
The base package is released under the GNU GPLv3 License, but the Extension Pack is a proprietary software.
