NK7695 reviewed v7.0.2-154219 on Feb 13, 2023

Pros: Previous versions work great.

Cons: New versions don't work on Windows XP / Vista. Here's the reason why:
Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package 2019 14.27.29112.0 (64-bit) does install but it needs Qt platform which dropped support for Windows Vista or XP. So Virtualbox 7 won't work.

Bottom Line: I'm stuck using version 5 because of this issue. That's too bad because it's a very good program.

tskarp reviewed v6.1.38-153438 on Sep 10, 2022

Pros:

Cons: The virtual box guest doesnt boot when you have allready connect u linux usb device (maybe its a guest addittion version problem)

Bottom Line: The virtual box guest doesnt boot when you have allready connect u linux usb device (maybe its a guest addittion version problem)

Someone reviewed v on Jul 5, 2022

Pros: 555

Cons: 555

Bottom Line: 555

lylejk reviewed v6.0.4-128413 on Jan 31, 2019

Pros: At least 32-bit OS are a bit more stable than previous 6.x versions (i.e. sound not so bad (still not good, but at least not so bad) and programs run within guest aren't so sluggish). :)

Cons: Recovery from set points still crash and waking a VM from saved state also still crashes; hope they soon address this bug. 64-bit VMs appear to not have this bug and didn't with previous 6.x versions either; only 32-bit guests for whatever reason). :)

Bottom Line: If you haven't upgraded from 5.2x version, and you use a 32-bit Guest, I recommend you wait until these bugs are addressed. My bet is soon they will be like all the bugs from 5.x versions have, but still, time will tell. :)

Aegis69 reviewed v5.2.10-122406 on Apr 30, 2018

Pros: Good

Cons: Good

Bottom Line: Oracle hasnt screwed this up... yet

asaenz reviewed v5.2.8-121009 on Mar 6, 2018

Pros: Price, availability, number of satisfied users, company reputation, frequency of updates.

Cons: Might be awhile before a problem is addressed depending on severity since it is a not-for-profit project.

Bottom Line: Has been a couple of years since I used and as an impulse decided to download a new executable and try it and so far it ran an old file I retained on my disk and is functioning well ... will update after evaluating for a few more weeks/months. Revised my rating to 4 until further testing.

Picasso reviewed v5.1.6-110634 on Sep 14, 2016

The best!

marty reviewed v5.0.18-106667 on Apr 19, 2016

Now works on all Windows Insider Preview Builds. Great program.

uberfly reviewed v5.0.16-105871 on Mar 8, 2016

Solid. I've been using this as test platforms daily for many years without any issues worth noting. Continues to get better.

asaenz reviewed v5.0.12-104815 on Jan 5, 2016

I'd give it a 3.5 if I could because it is "free" ... my main problem is every now and then it gets "disconnected" from the VM file and although I've been working with computers as a tool since early 80s I still find it difficult to get the VM file that I've worked with for months to function again and it's usually just easier to start a new one which is disappointing because I lose all the programs and settings ... for all practical purposes it was like a hard disk crash and lose everything.

lylejk reviewed v5.0.2-102096 on Aug 16, 2015

Huge fan of VB. Been using it for years. Upgraded recently to Win10 and talk about headaches. Even the current version of VB (10.0.2) has issues so did what was recommended and stuck with the beta (5.0.1r102010) and it's pretty stable (VB doesn't crash Win10 anymore after waking Win10 from Hibernation or sleep; sound now works in guests as well which is cool too). I'll wait until the official release of one that states it's Win10 compatible before installling it. Still giving VB 5 stars; well deserved. Just grateful for the fixes that the VB team (and M$ too for that matter) has done to fix the issues that at least works for me now. :)

war59312 reviewed v5.0.0.101271 RC2 on Jul 2, 2015

Would be nice if they would fix the "known 3rd party issues" already.

Would love to be able to use again. Not giving up my Comodo and I need network bridging.

So this version gets a 0. Recommand old buids of you run any sort of security app.

CyberDoc999 reviewed v5.0.0.100731 RC1 on Jun 7, 2015

VMware is #1 this is #2

inkowyouknow reviewed v4.3.22-98236 on Feb 14, 2015

Its the leader, does what it says and does it well.

FatBastard reviewed v4.3.18-96516 on Oct 13, 2014

The guest additions work with Windows 10 in this version :)

inkowyouknow reviewed v4.3.16-95972 on Sep 10, 2014

Its top of its game, smooth install works like a charm

Aegis69 reviewed v4.3.16-95972 on Sep 10, 2014

One of the few thing Oracle bought that they haven't screwed up,... yet.

FatBastard reviewed v4.3.16-95972 on Sep 10, 2014

4.3.14 didnt' work for me so I had to stay with 4.3.12 but 4.3.16 seems to work just fine :)

uberfly reviewed v4.3.14-95030 on Jul 21, 2014

Yea, If you're on windows don't use 4.3.14. Wait for another release or use 4.3.12.

cmotdibbler reviewed v4.3.14-95030 on Jul 17, 2014

Ugh... 4.14 has some sort of issue on win7. Look on the virtualbox forums about deleting a registry key to get it work. I ended up reverting back to 4.12. Otherwise this is great free software.

beniobenek reviewed v4.3.10-92957 on Mar 26, 2014

Big 5 for this

gerry_g reviewed v4.2.14-86644 on Jun 23, 2013

Although it's not easy, I hope USB 3 support with support for guest OS's that only support USB 2 (1?) be addressed soon. (Guest additions).

VMs are very useful for legacy OSs which can be used safely if care is taken. As an example, I have SW that will only run under XP and USB devices with no later OS drivers.

On a desktop, one can add a USB 2 card, many laptops no longer have any USB 2 ports and they can't be added. Some Laptops let you downgrade USB ports to 2 on the BIOS, many do not.

Artem S. Tashkinov reviewed v4.2.14-86644 on Jun 22, 2013

"I still want to know why it's not possible to mount physical harddrives from the GUI?"

If it becomes easy, people can easily destroy the data on their HDDs.

Remember you cannot access (rw) the same data from two different OSes - it will lead to data loss.

FatBastard reviewed v4.2.14-86644 on Jun 22, 2013

I still want to know why it's not possible to mount physical harddrives from the GUI?

uberfly reviewed v4.2.12-84980 on Apr 14, 2013

Fatbas**** stop living up to your name and read VB's documentation. It's possible to mount a physical drive or partition. I've done it several times.

FatBastard reviewed v4.2.12-84980 on Apr 12, 2013

I still want to know why it's not possible to mount physical harddrives from the GUI?

roj reviewed v4.2.10-84105 on Mar 18, 2013

Kicks the CRAP out of VMWare Workstation in terms of performance and reliability. Within the last few weeks I went on a course where I was required to use VMWare for the virtual facilities used in the course. I was not surprised to see bugs that have existed since 4.x still unresolved in the latest version. By the end of the course I was positively PINING for VirtualBox and was reminded why, despite the occasional foibles I have encountered across various releases, why I chose VirtualBox over the Pig-In-A-Wig garbage that is VMWare.

Long live this application.

FIVE stars for continual excellence across multiple platforms (I use it in Windows and Linux).

FatBastard reviewed v4.2.10-84105 on Mar 18, 2013

Fantastic program but why isn't it possible to mount physical harddrives from the GUI?

Remax reviewed v4.2.2-81494 on Oct 21, 2012

Works perfectly! Great free Virtual PC type software. Works better then some of the big time pay programs!!

marty reviewed v4.2.0-80444 RC3 on Aug 30, 2012

I now am using version 4.1.29 ib Windows and Linux. It fixes alll the problems I had with earlier versions.

Artem S. Tashkinov reviewed v4.2.0-80014 RC1 on Aug 13, 2012

4.2RC1 download link:

http://download.virtualb...rg/virtualbox/4.2.0_RC1/

chadamus reviewed v4.2.0-79756 Beta 1 on Aug 3, 2012

This builds adds (among other things):

"Added experimental support for Drag'n'drop from the host to Linux guests."

I do look forward from when I can drag and drop from host to guest, and guest to host on Windows OSes.

marty reviewed v4.1.18-78361 on Jun 22, 2012

I'm sticking with version 4.14 for Windows (Linux OK). When I installed 4.1.8 and tried to install the extension pack the installation failed because it could not rename a temo file to a final file. This is not surprising since the file name had both \ and /!!. Windows doesn't like this! Have to give this version a 1 but 4.1.4 a 5

-Lord- reviewed v4.1.14.77440 on May 1, 2012

I was first introduced to this software in my Linux class, and I love it. Have always hated having to do multiboots, and this helps me not have to. I've tried VM ware and while that's a really good program, I absolutely detest how vm ware sort of takes over the computer and network connections. It's ridiculous. This one's free, powerful, can open vm images, and really easy to use.

Solid 5.

Artem S. Tashkinov reviewed v4.1.12.77218 on Apr 2, 2012

@Fatbas****:

It's indeed possible, just read the documentation thoroughly.

@dehuat

Scan your PC for errors, overheating, etc. - I have zero problems with new "Oracle" releases.

FatBastard reviewed v4.1.10.76795 on Mar 13, 2012

Very good!
I only wish is was possible to mount a physical HD.

dehuat reviewed v4.1.6.74713 on Dec 12, 2011

Oracle VirtualBox is becoming worse. It drains CPU to much now. It is unstable, after the virtualbox updated, some times guest image broken....

I have almost touched all of the virtual machines since 2002. Currently VMware and XEN-based are the only choice if you want stable.

smarterthanyou reviewed v4.1.72578 Beta 1 on Jul 2, 2011

So does the Linux version of this beta finally support Aero Glass on a 64-bit Windows 7 guest? My computer has a Core 2 Q9400 quad core CPU with 8GB RAM along with ATI Radeon 4770 graphics and yet 64-bit Windows 7 runs at a snail's pace under Fedora 15. It doesn't matter if I use KVM, VirtualBox or VMware.

Artem S. Tashkinov reviewed v4.1.72578 Beta 1 on Jul 2, 2011

Simply incredible.

roj reviewed v4.0.8.71778 on May 20, 2011

MUCH better, especially the USB implementation but the "can't delete snapshot because of extra child hard disk" stupidity still persists.

For someone who uses snapshots A LOT, this is extremely objectionable.

FOUR stars.

Jaz-M-Taz reviewed v4.0.8.71778 on May 20, 2011

Finally, usb working on the win version. Been using this for years now. Always works pretty good, except for usb support has traditionally been a problem. I use Virtualbox to run a seperate os, with all my specialized work related software installed. (Telcom support). There has been no usb problems withe the Linux version, so I often dual-boot with Linux, just to run Virtualbox, without usb issues. Except Linux doesn't support my modem very well without the paid drivers, and I use a modem still to connect to some older PABX equipment. I'm glad they have finally solved the Win usb issue, at least for me. It simplifies things a great deal.

stylemessiah reviewed v4.0.8.71778 on May 17, 2011

Most negative reviews could easily be avoided if people understood how to use the program properly.

When used properly its a great and FREE program.

baki_princ reviewed v4.0.8.71778 on May 16, 2011

idk man i got to say im disapoitend, 1 yr ago i i dint know anything about virtualization and i installed windows virtual pc. i menaged to get all done sucesfully from first try! now year later i installed this app and: did get network to run , no net, frezzes too much and crushing couple of usb devices didnt menaged to integrated so after 10hours trying i give it up and get back to windows virtual pc.

Floodland reviewed v4.0.6.71416 on May 5, 2011

This hotfix version resolve a serious USB bug in Windows 7 x64. With the previous version any USB device plugged to the host was not recognized (not present even in the device manager) until a reboot. This version fix that. Could not find any other change.

roj reviewed v4.0.6.71344 on Apr 28, 2011

Total Utter Crap.

Every since Oracle took over (and they ruin everything they touch), this software has grown progressively worse. Now its Virtual Media Manager gains phantom hard disk dependencies or orphans them - take your pick. I've even seen snapshots simply disappear. The clipboard on occasion also loses its way between the host and VM - it simply loses data, remembering older items copied to it. This is the kind of crap I expect from VMWare.

The snapshot feature is badly broken and the VMM isn't far behind.

I can now only recommend that you stay the heck away from this formerly excellent piece of software.

ONE star.

uberfly reviewed v4.0.6.71344 on Apr 21, 2011

Fantastic piece of FREE software. Never had a problem with it and I use it heavily.

roj reviewed v4.0.4-70112 on Feb 20, 2011

USB under Linux hosts works perfectly - under Windows hosts it remains a disaster. On the Mac platform the whole program is rubbish. Linux shared folders still don't automount - when I select automount, I expect to see a mounted drive appear on my desktop. At least that feature works on Windows. And what's with this new "feature" where hard disk incrementals now appear regularly in Virtual Media Manager after you shut down a guest? It plays havoc when deleting snapshots. And that "extensions" filth is just that - love that Oracle "innovation".

I'm no fan of VMWare - I moved to VirtualBox to get away form it's nonsense and bloat - but USB in that software works perfectly regardless of host platform and Linux shared folders do exactly what I described above.

Oracle is making a holy mess of this product - just like everything else they befoul.

I use this program every day - A LOT. C'mon people: get your heads out of your collective azzes and get it right.

TWO stars.

asaenz reviewed v4.0.4-70112 on Feb 18, 2011

"... the only professional-quality virtualization solution ..." I think not

Banquo reviewed v4.0.2.69518 on Jan 19, 2011

I tried it and I wasn't able to get very far. I was going to install Windows 98 but it wouldn't even boot from the startup disk without locking up, and I tried several to make sure it wasn't a bad disk. VMware and Virtual PC 2007 had no problem with it at all. I just uninstalled it at that point; if it can't even run a simple boot floppy image without freezing up then no thanks.

roj reviewed v4.0.2.69518 on Jan 18, 2011

Better.

Not quite there yet.

Get the shared folders from a Linux guest to a Windows host working without command line intervention.

Shared foiders for Linux guests DOES NOT WORK.

USB passthrough for Windows hosts DOES NOT WORK.

THREE stars.

roj reviewed v4.0.0.69151 on Jan 7, 2011

Buggy.

Very buggy.

Crashed my Windows 7 x64 system with a bugcheck. Now, as a general rule, one of the extremely few things that can bring 7 down is grossly buggy drivers. What has Oracle done? They've messed around with "packages" where they've rigged the USB driver and a couple of other things as add-ons.

People, it WAS stable before this and you broke it.

ONE star.

Get it fixed.

DudeBoyz reviewed v4.0.0.69151 on Dec 22, 2010

I'm still struggling on a fair rating version 4 because of the problems that have cropped up with Linux and Guest Additions.

Guest Additions worked fine in many versions of VirtualBox 3.x, but no longer work properly in version 4, which means I'm stuck at between 800x600 and 1024x768 resolution for many distributions, and that is pretty annoying.

With v3.x and Suse 11.x and the latest Mandriva, I can resize the screen and get 1280x960, 1400x1050 and 1600x1200, depending on my preferences and the LCD I'm using, and that makes for a much more usable and productive environment.

Until v4.x provides something even close to as functional, I just don't see the benefit of even using it, even though it still functions ok in many other areas.

anomoly reviewed v4.0.0.69073 Beta on Dec 19, 2010

The oracle ext pack is at beta 2

VirtualBox 4.0.0 Beta 4 Known Issues

1. Host-Only Networking as 2nd adapter, no IP address assigned
2. 3D Acceleration: VM Crash on NVIDIA
3. GUI crashes (OpenSuse Host)
4. Linux guest: Xorg segfaults
5. Seamless mode and multi-monitor
6. [Hard to Reproduce] Portability: VMs could not find image
7. Portability: Shared folder path is not absolute
8. Regressions: Linux Additions several failures
9. [Hard to Reproduce] VM doesn't start after shutdown
10. [Hard to Reproduce] GUI: Can't Uninstall ExtPack
11. Portability: Live Snapshots cannot start
12. VMM/Guest SMP: Very slow performance on over-commit
13. [Hard to Reproduce] Windows Installer: Can't uninstall BETA3, upg to BETA4 fails
14. Mouse pointer disappears on doing the following...

VMI's are great if you have a rockin cpu and tons of ram. If not, you have to run something very lightweight. By the time this matures I might even have the hardware to run it well hopefully. Dual booting is so lame imo. I'd love to host a stripped-down xp vm from linux, but usb would have to work flawlessly and I only have 2gigs of ram. As I have never really ran anything but xp or 7, It's kinda iffy.

war593122 reviewed v4.0.0.68743 Beta 2 on Dec 10, 2010

Sweet, new build already. :D

Change-Log: http://forums.virtualbox...ic.php?f=15&t=36893

Known Issues

1. GUI BETA2: Can't Uninstall ExtPack of BETA1
2. 3D Acceleration: Windows XP x64 fails
3. Scaling Mode works partially
4. 2D Video Acceleration: graphics corrupted

war593122 reviewed v4.0.0.68572 Beta 1 on Dec 7, 2010

ChangeLog: http://forums.virtualbox...ic.php?f=15&t=36748

"As of version 4.0, VirtualBox introduces the Extension Pack mechanism which allows Oracle and 3rd parties to deliver additional functionality on top of the standard Open Source product. The Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack, adds support for USB 2.0, RDP server and the PXE bootloader with E1000 support."

trents reviewed v3.2.12.68302 on Dec 2, 2010

HI,
It nice to know about VirtualBox where general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware.I like to used this one...

Joco reviewed v3.2.8.64453 on Aug 8, 2010

@UniversityofKentucky: Sorry if you know this already. Installing Guest Additions will fix your mouse issue for sure. May be will also improve USB. To install: Select Menu Devices and Select Install Guest Additions.

If the Install doesn't start automatically, naviagate to file system, open the CD drive and run setup from there. Good lucks.

soldier1st reviewed v3.2.8.64453 on Aug 8, 2010

lailesige@yahoo.com is a stupid spammer who needs to get a life and don't buy anything from it as it just a scam. the spammer gets a 1
also xiaohaibushi is another lame spammer/scammer so don't go to that site

scp64 reviewed v3.2.8.64453 on Aug 8, 2010

I use it a lot. The USB support, as mentioned, needs upgrading, my wireless usb dongle "sometimes works" when it does work it is very slow. My webcam does not work, period.

UniversityofKentucky reviewed v3.2.8.64453 on Aug 7, 2010

There are two requests for future updates. 1. Better support of USB devices. For example, I can access my webcam in VMWare Player, but not in VirtualBox. Seems this is a problem for many VirtualBox users. 2. Would like to mouse over virtual pc, use the OS, then mouse out of it without having to hit (right-CTL).

In spite of these two issue, VirtualBox allows me to beta test without screwing up my host, with a reasonably good speed.

Aegis69 reviewed v3.2.6.63112 on Jun 25, 2010

Anyone got a comparison between this and QEMU?

cekicen reviewed v3.2.6.62864 Beta on Jun 21, 2010

Best of the best for free...

Joco reviewed v3.2.4.62467 on Jun 10, 2010

Here is one example to show how Virtualbox is amazing. A VM created by Hyper-V cannot be run by Microsoft own VPC (in addition, VPC cannot run VMs having 64bits guest OS). Virtualbox can open that Hyper-V VM image and run it directly WITHOUT any conversion. Even VMWare Workstation 7.1 ($200) cannot do such a feat.

FatBastard reviewed v3.2.4.62431 on Jun 7, 2010

I love VirtualBox but they update too often nowadays I can't keep up :)

trgilpin reviewed v3.2.4.62431 on Jun 7, 2010

No, not anymore. Oracle bought sun back in January of this year for $7.4 billion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Microsystems
http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/018363

x-ray reviewed v3.2.4.62431 on Jun 7, 2010

Is this not " Sun VirtualBox" ???

FatBastard reviewed v3.2.2.62298 on Jun 2, 2010

I love this software. I use it every day.

Tech reviewed v3.2.0.61806 on May 21, 2010

Amazing & Excellent........

Artem S. Tashkinov reviewed v3.2.0.61544 Beta 3 on May 13, 2010

Very unstable and very buggy, I hope it's because it's beta.

And this rebranding is really stupid, just call it VirtualBox for God's sake.

essuraj reviewed v3.2.0.61544 Beta 3 on May 12, 2010

Ah..its oracle virtual box not sun...

UniversityofKentucky reviewed v3.1.6.59338 on Mar 27, 2010

Use it on Windows and Ubuntu. Never bombs, always quick, good command line control, if desired. I'm a believer!

uberfly reviewed v3.1.6.59338 on Mar 26, 2010

Solid and well written.

us3r reviewed v3.1.6.59338 on Mar 26, 2010

It's getting more reliable lately. Let's hope this trend will go on.

Obren reviewed v3.14 on Feb 15, 2010

Extraordinary virtualization tool. One aspect they need to significantly improve is handling external USB devices (e.g. USB hard drives) - occasionally it's pain in the neck to make client recognize the USB device. VMware Player's mechanism of switching peripherals between host and client is much, much better.

Regardless, five stars for VirtualBox, no doubt about that.

marty reviewed v3.1.2.56127 on Jan 1, 2010

Claims that AMD-64 is not enabled in BIOS - WRONG. VM will not boot. Use 3.012

konno reviewed v3.1.2.56127 on Dec 18, 2009

Check out this comparison: VMware vs. VirtualBox vs. Parallels

http://infoworld.com/d/v...ows-and-linux-heats-500

FatBastard reviewed v3.1.2.56127 on Dec 17, 2009

Fantastic program. Can't believe it's free...

TomWibbaert reviewed v3.1.2.56127 on Dec 17, 2009

Gets worse with every revision.
Comparable to wine, the older the better.

Aegis69 reviewed v3.1.2.56127 on Dec 17, 2009

3.1.2.56127 is busted

edit: nope it was my machine, not VB. Works good now.

asaenz reviewed v3.1.0.55467 on Dec 16, 2009

Works fairly well ... looking forward to future versions. As others have indicated, would be nice if I had the option to drag-and-copy. Sometimes my mouse doesn't work properly or the sound is distorted so some of the drivers might need updating ... I'm not sure but I don't have that problem with VMware. The main thing I like about it over VMware besides the cost is a lower memory footprint which helps my host computer run better.

Joco reviewed v3.0.10.54047 on Oct 29, 2009

May be BN download has been updated. There was a build issue when the bin was released: "The 3.0.10 binaries that briefly appeared on the web site suffer from a last minute regression that breaks software virtualization (not VT-x nor AMD-V)"

The build has been refreshed: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

jds86930 reviewed v3.0.10.54047 on Oct 29, 2009

The 10/28/2009 release of 3.0.10 was put up here before the VB team officially released it. They found significant bugs with it and pulled the build off the file server that fileforum was linking to. Everyone that got 3.0.10 should roll back until 3.0.10 is *officially* released.

Aegis69 reviewed v3.0.10.54047 on Oct 29, 2009

Well normally I love virtualbox, but this update 3.0.10 broke all my virtual machines. All of them.

JCookes reviewed v3.0.10.54047 on Oct 29, 2009

File not found

lztsgx reviewed v3.0.10.54047 on Oct 28, 2009

what's new?

Wilfried reviewed v3.0.8.53138 on Oct 17, 2009

If there was a better snapshot management, this would be my prefered virtualisation software.

wat0114 reviewed v3.0.8.53138 on Oct 6, 2009

What can I say other than this is terrific virtualizing software. Installaion of the guest additions is essential, however, to gain the most of its extensive features.

sparskter reviewed v3.0.6.52128 on Sep 10, 2009

Indeed, it is excellent!
Very very stable and fast and low footprint; I am using it on Ubuntu 9.04 to install a VM Windows XP for work. I just prefer linux; both with VirtualBox I can use Visual Studio on linux :)

The only "problem": snapshot manager... This can and NEED to be improved. Just take a look on the "Snapshot Manager" from VMWare: you can go back and forward with no limits at all.

Nevertheless: superb job!!!

mjm01010101 reviewed v3.0.4.50677 on Aug 5, 2009

Obviously a bug last version because this version installed fine.

Reformat, right. Yeah, what are you, helpdesk?

tontito reviewed v3.0.2.49928 on Jul 10, 2009

I couldn't find any problem!

Try format your windoes/linux if it doesn't work :P

kmrdeva reviewed v3.0.2.49928 on Jul 10, 2009

I used to use MS Virtual Server 2005 R2 in the office, but its mgmt console only worked with IE (due to its activeX plugin). Then I moved to VMWare Server 2.0.1, which was more cross platform in terms of remote manageability as the mgmt console (running on top of Tomcat) could be accessed from other web browsers.

When I first tried VirtualBox 3.0 about a week back, I found it really easy, elegant and speedy to set up and use. It's full featured and the performance is really impressive. I'm now running 3.0.2 on both my Vista 32bit laptop and my Linux Mint7 64bit PC to host test OS environments.

Aegis69 reviewed v3.0.2.49928 on Jul 10, 2009

Install of 3.02 worked perfectly for me, the 3.x series so far has been excellent. No problems.

Hellcat_M reviewed v3.0.2.49928 on Jul 10, 2009

I got the same error while installing. I'll up my rating when its fixed.

mjm01010101 reviewed v3.0.2.49928 on Jul 10, 2009

"Sun xVM Virtualbox Setup ended prematurely because of an error."

Ah well. Nice try Sun!

Zarggg reviewed v3.0.0.49315 on Jul 2, 2009

@cekicen
No, 3.0.0 is the current stable version.

cekicen reviewed v3.0.0.49315 on Jun 30, 2009

2.1.4 is the last stable version. http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Download_Old_Builds

mflip reviewed v3.0.0.49051 Beta 2 on Jun 28, 2009

Awful software. I installed this under Mac OS X 10.5.7 on my Mac Mini (Early 2009) computer. When I tried to use 64-bit Windows 7 RC Build 7100 the Windows Experience Index test couldn't be completed because for some strange reason Windows couldn't measure Windows Media Playback. This effectively prevents Aero Glass from ever running. Hopefully the next beta will fix this. In the mean time I'll have to check out Parallels.

angrykeyboarder reviewed v3.0.0.49051 Beta 2 on Jun 24, 2009

After the hours of recovery time I spent starting over from scrtatch with new VMs (after 3.0 berta one essentially destroyed them) I think I'll wait for the final release. That beta was more like an alpha as far as I'm concerned.

Otherwise, I've been very happy with the final versons of VirtualBox for the past few years. They continue to get better.

mike_diack reviewed v3.0.0.48728 Beta 1 on Jun 17, 2009

3.0.0 looks good so far me on XP SP3 32 bit. None of the glaring problems of the 2.2 betas. More news later

us3r reviewed v2.2.2.46594 on May 11, 2009

Still very buggy, crashes while doing simple NIC adding/removing operations, snapshots occasionally f@ck up completely so you can't even go back where you started. Very lame, on slow Virtual PC 2007 SP1 nothing of this has ever happened. Seriously if you value your time then use any other virtualization software ( e.g. Virtual PC 2007 SP1) , but not this Virtual Box cr@p.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.2.2.46594 on May 3, 2009

I can hardly find the words to express my disappointment in these 2.2.x versions.

I installed this version in a fresh XP install and then did Guest Additions. It has all sorts of problems with USB and LAN access. 2.2.0 and now 2.2.2 - heck even the original 2.2 betas were full of such problems. This one locks up frequently. Try to access a USB device - bam - it locks up. Try to access the local LAN - bam - it locks up. It's absolutely maddening.

Unlike earlier versions, when this thing crashes (2.2.0 and 2.2.2), I can't just close the app and restart it. I have to go in and manually kill processes via CTRL-ALT-DEL before it will start again. I can hardly believe how bad it's gotten. I'm sort of dumbfounded. One of my very favorite apps in recent years and BAM - they have just ruined it.

The last versions that I had working solid, I believe were 2.1.0 and 2.1.2. They worked fine, but 2.2.x just flat out doesn't do the job for me, and I can't figure out how they screwed such a great application up.

And what is the deal with these repeating REGISTRATION NAG SCREENS? What an annoyance.

I'm rating it a 2 but at this point I'm feeling that's a bit generous. Nag screens and broken code? What has this previously awesome application turned in to?

Man, this is just totally sad...

Ian C. reviewed v2.2.2.46594 on Apr 30, 2009

BSD, especially 64bit versions, is unusable in 2.2.0 and 2.2.2 as far as I can tell. Tried FreeBSD 6.1, 6.2RC both x86 and x64 and OpenBSD 4.4.4 x64, no luck with any of them, and most worked prior to 2.2.0.

mike_diack reviewed v2.2.2.46594 on Apr 28, 2009

Have just updated from 2.1.4 to 2.2.2 (had to rollback from 2.2.0 to 2.1.4). Running Win XP Pro 32 bit SP3. Glad to say all of the problems I had with 2.2.0 are gone (DHCP networking for the host only network took ages to start, couldn't create large memory VMs etc)

So, 2.2.2 looks like a return to form after the abomination that 2.2.0 was!

mjm01010101 reviewed v2.2.2.46594 on Apr 28, 2009

Just started using this, and I can't believe I've gone so long without.

No issues encountered, yet. Mounted a Ubuntu install and was up and running in minutes.

Nighted reviewed v2.2.0.45846 on Apr 15, 2009

Argh!!! Networking is FUBAR in this release. I can not get the default NAT to work at all. I must use a bridged connection. Could be a faulty install package, but I'm not sure. Anyway, the last version worked right out of the box, not so this time around. :(

niknetpc reviewed v2.2.0.45846 on Apr 10, 2009

Works perfectly in XP, Vista and Ubuntu, tested and not have any problems with it. Almost stable and easy to use PC emulator ever seen..

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.2.0.45846 on Apr 9, 2009

I can't believe how much trouble I'm having with this latest set of releases.

The network crap is driving me NUTS!!!

Overall it's been good to me over the course of time but it really seems to be heading off in a bad direction.

Sort of like how the people who wrote Maxthon 1.6.x had it working great but 2.x did (and still does suck).

Such a let down. But thankfully I can just use the older versions and they work without any problems on most things.

Sure hope they get this all fixed, cause if not, I'll have to try to find another product that works as well as this one used to.

butthead reviewed v2.2.0.45846 on Apr 9, 2009

Installer size doubled on win with 2.2 release, x86 and x64 in one installer now.

adam.yao reviewed v2.2.0.45846 on Apr 8, 2009

It cannot be installed to my PC, this maybe is cause by it cannot uninstall previous beta2 version

viveksj reviewed v2.2.0.45846 on Apr 8, 2009

Excellent piece of software, highly recommended. Only problem i have seen so far is USB. But this issue can also be fixed

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.2.0 Beta 2 on Apr 2, 2009

I'm dropping this one to a 3 now. This particular version is plagued with problems that I haven't seen before, and some that I have not seen in months. It feels like a HUGE, MAJOR STEP BACKWARDS. It's a real let-down.

I'm going to uninstall it and go back to the previous final version. This beta is just a mess...

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

I like this app a lot. But I'm rating this specific version 2.2.0 Beta 2, and it has some issues.

USB 2.0 in a Win XP SP3 VM is really, really unstable and slow. That's not something I'm used to seeing - I hope they fix it. Cause it's a mess.

That said, other elements are faster and seem to be stable. So, mixed bag. A 4 rating instead of 5 due to the USB 2.0 issues.

Joco reviewed v2.2.0 Beta 2 on Mar 31, 2009

Recommended. Much faster than v2.14

NOTE: If the conversion of the XML configuration file to the new 2.20 breaks the network settings:

If you were using "Host Inerface" before, now you must select "Bridged Network" (its new name) in the dropdown box "Attached To", Ignore the red warning text in the description field for now.

On the right side of this dropdown, there is an icon, click on it and in the dropdown "Host Settings / Bridged Network Adapter" select the network interface used for bridging with the host network.

roberttucker reviewed v2.2.0 Beta 2 on Mar 30, 2009

nice

Joco reviewed v2.1.4 on Feb 19, 2009

There is a vast performance improvement from the previous 2.12. In my setup host = Ubuntu 8.10 x32, Guest = Win 2008 x32. With 2.12 the VM was crawling, after update to 2.14 the overall speed is much much better.

Somnambulator reviewed v2.1.4 on Feb 17, 2009

Great Virtual Machine for being free. it may even be as good or better than the newly free VMWare apps that i havent used in a while.

im installing this newest version now and havent tried it yet.

roj reviewed v2.1.4 on Feb 17, 2009

More fixes! Yay! :)

Although, guys, I hate to tell you this but...

OpenGL support is utterly pointless.

No one and I repeat No One uses that outdated junk. Not in the real world.

DirectX.

THAT'S real.

FIVE stars.

taxis reviewed v2.1.2 on Jan 22, 2009

Very fast and solid emulation software - incredible that something as good as that is distributed as freeware. There are a few bugs; for me, the most annoying is that using of the clipboard has strange effect. However, VirtualBox would even deserve five stars if it weren't free, so I am glad it is.

us3r reviewed v2.1.2 on Jan 22, 2009

Changelog may be long, but the bug list is much longer :D.

roj reviewed v2.1.2 on Jan 21, 2009

My GAWD, look at the list of fixes. And how long did they take? A month.

So, tell me Sun:

Why did you idiots not simply take the extra month and release THIS as 2.1 instead of subjecting us to the ALPHA garbage that you released masquerading as a final?

You trying to tear a page from the Microsoft manual a la Vista, because it's quite obvious that the quality of code of your 2.1 release matched that misbegotten piece of excrement in spades (and as shown by Windows 7, could have been entirely avoided by taking a wee bit more time to test and so ensure customer satisfaction).

Take a lesson and do NOT repeat that stupidity ever again.

That being said, this release is what I have come to expect from VirtualBox:

Solid, fast, efficient, nowhere near as invasive or bug-ridden as VMWare (that company was sloppy enough to introduce the "cannot connect to VMDK" bug in the 6.0 beta and didn't manage to fix it - despite it being repeatedly being brought to their attention - until 6.5; and how many releases was that?).

Much better and you get a FOUR because you still have a way to go to completely de-louse the 2.1 release.

Joco reviewed v2.1.2 on Jan 21, 2009

Download for various Linux distros:
http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/2.1.2/

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.1.2 on Jan 21, 2009

Good, solid, does the job well and is an excellent free alternative for people interested in running VM's.

I've got VM's for:

Suse 11.1 Final
Mandrake 2009
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7 Beta

All of them work just fine. Less hassle than VMWare, cheaper than Parallels and it just gets it done. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn good.

Changelog can be found here - it's a LONG one:

http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=13555

Lawrence01 reviewed v2.1.2 on Jan 21, 2009

I love this software, and being free is a huge bonus on top of it! I use it with absolutely no problems on my EFI-X Mac to run XP while in OS/X. I also use it on my desktop PC to test out various revisions of XP that I made using a combination of n-lite and driverpack base and files as well as variations of ryans integrated packs to verify that it works and the results are always good. I've run all sort of programs from within the virtualbox environment with no real problems...

kholdstare reviewed v2.1.0 on Jan 19, 2009

only good virtual machine software out there is VMware. with Microsoft VirtualPC software being too slow and suns free stuff which has the same issue with all free software which is full of bugs and very little people to work on it. you ignorant wannabe experts can stick with your free bug ridden software. me, i'll stick with something that i have to pay for but i know that works right

Zenphic reviewed v2.1.0 on Jan 12, 2009

It installed Windows 7 Beta x64 without too much trouble. You just have to remember to enable VT-x/AMD-V. It works very fast and it has a quite small installation .exe, unlike VMWare Server.

us3r reviewed v2.1.0 on Jan 2, 2009

Stay away from this cr@p. I've been using VirtualBox for some time. The only good thing I can say about it is that it's a way faster that Virtual PC, but it is also way too buggy to actually use it. Many programs doesn't work on it but they work fine on Virtual PC. Few last updates of VirtualBox were rushed and instead of fixing some common issues they actually added a dozen more. The latest version 2.1 totally f@cked up my VMs, tries of fixing them f@cked up it even more. Now I will have to recreate my VMs in Virtual PC. VirtualBox - what a piece of garbageware.

myboy reviewed v2.1.0 on Dec 30, 2008

Wow, this thing sure is slooooooooooooooow. Sadly, that is what software from Sun is known for.

roj reviewed v2.1.0 on Dec 19, 2008

MASSIVELY unstable. Stay away from this mess until they actually get the code working.

Great concepts but wait for the point release fixes - I'd recommend at least two. This is a glorified alpha.

TWO stars.

roj reviewed v2.1.0 on Dec 18, 2008

MASSIVELY unstable. Stay away from this mess until they actually get the code working.

Great concepts but wait for the point release fixes - I'd recommend at least two. This is a glorified alpha.

TWO stars.

Somnambulator reviewed v2.1.0 on Dec 18, 2008

Being free it easily beats out VMWare Player. I havent used VMWare's pay programs so i can not compare to those. If you're looking for a free VM program, this is much more configurable than Player. Player has almost no changeable options and i dont believe it lets you install OS' that arent already in the VMWare format. i could be wrong.

Somnambulator reviewed v2.1.0 on Dec 18, 2008

lol roj you idiot. it's the name of the architecture, not the the CPU. AMD64 is one term coined for 64-bit CPUs since AMD did create it for the x86. also, i'm pretty sure Intel invented, or rather implemented, Hardware Virtualization before AMD, since it's been in their Itanium CPUs since 2005 and their consumer CPUs since 2006, before the Barcelona architecture had been released.

[deXter] reviewed v2.1.0 on Dec 18, 2008

'About time full VMDK/VHD support was introduced. The 3D acceleration is nice and useful, but there's still plenty basic features missing, such as:

- Drag and Drop support
- Multi-Point-Entry Snapshots (So you can go back to any earlier snapshot without discarding the newer one)

And a few useful advanced features like making an image of a live system work automatically (by adjusting the HAL/hardware config etc)..

The good news is though that they haven't been sitting idle and plenty of significant improvements have been made since the last year. This gives us hope we can count on - on change we can believe in. That's why VBox deserves a 5!

(-1 for stability issues. I could reproduce quite a few crashes)

Joco reviewed v2.1.0 on Dec 17, 2008

VM seems to start faster with 2.10. I particularly like the New Host Interface Networking implementations. Didn't test yet "Full VMDK/VHD support". Hope it will work OK.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.1.0 on Dec 17, 2008

Not too much noticeable on the Linux side. Still has the same mouse capture bug with Guest Additions and Suse 11 RC1, but I think that's mostly the fault of the Suse folks.

I'm hoping for a more substantial advancement in terms of features and supported distributions when they kick out the next release.

It is a good product, but I'm hoping it will become more robust over time.

sorlag reviewed v2.1.0 on Dec 17, 2008

omg, i fell in love with the 2.1 changelog ^^

Aegis69 reviewed v2.1.0 on Dec 17, 2008

This is one of the few open source programs to be bought by a big corporation thats actually gotten better.

Its great, and since Microsoft made VirtualPC not work with Ubuntu, (nice move MS) it my only option for testing new Linux Distros.

The seamless mode is fantastic too, best new innovation in virtual desktops that I have seen in years.

Enable 3D acceleration??? CHECK

Joco reviewed v2.0.6 on Nov 25, 2008

Excellent, find it more responsive than VMWare Workstation 6.5. Works also better when guest OS is Ubuntu. And yet download size is only 35 MB. Wonder what is inside a 550 MB install from VMWare (I am a regular VMWare user).

Price = $0 even for commercial use, the only condition is you have to install VirtualBox yourself.

@RejZoR: tu use shares you have two methods:

1. Set network to Host Interface and use network bridge from the host (VirtualBox manual page 76, 77). The networking is indeed more complicate than VMWare but once you get that down, it is not that complicate. After that host and VM can see each other by \\MachineName\C$

2. Use the built in shared folder. Using the VirtualBox GUI, create a shared folder. From within the VM access this folder by \\vboxsvr\ShareFolderNameYouGave

You can ask questions here: http://forums.virtualbox.org/

roj reviewed v2.0.6 on Nov 24, 2008

Glad to see they FINALLY fixed the install bug that ignored the proper directory (or any other choice of directory, for that matter).

Love this.

"This is my voice, my weapon of choice... "

FIVE stars.

LRN reviewed v2.0.4 on Oct 24, 2008

From http://www.virtualbox.or...VirtualBox_architecture :
--------------------------------
With its latest processors, Intel has introduced hardware virtualization support, which they call "Vanderpool", "IVT", "VT-x", or "VMX" (for "virtual machine extensions"). As we started out rather early on this, we internally use the term "VMX".

...

As said above, our hypervisor, on non-VT-x machines, lives in ring 0 of the guest context, below the guest ring-0 code that is actually run in ring 1. When VT-x is enabled, the hypervisor can safely live in ring 0 host context and gets activated automatically by use of the new VM exits.

We also fully support AMD's equivalent to VT-x (called AMD-V or SVM). This includes the nested paging feature in the Barcelona level CPUs (Phenoms and newer Opterons).
--------------------------------
So, VBox supports BOTH AMD-V and Intel-VT. Which means that "amd64" in the name STILL POINTS TO THE ARCHITECTURE.
Let me rephrase it: This version of VirtualBox MUST be installed on 64-bit OSes and WILL work with any amd64 (AKA EMT64T AKA x64) -compatible processor ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86-64 ), and probably will work with or without built-in hardware virtualization support.

Nice try, roj. BTW, you mistype way too much.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.0.4 on Oct 24, 2008

Here is the link to the change log for 2.0.4:

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog

So far, tests are going well. Unless I find something significant, the rating of 4 stands.

I'm glad that this app is out there. It really works well in most cases, and free is a very good price. :)

roj reviewed v2.0.4 on Oct 24, 2008

LRN:

Um, if you don't have an AMD processor, you won't get the built-in hardware virtualization support (AMD-V) that AMD developed and intel does not have (and which must also be enabled in machine BIOS to be functional). That's why it says AMD64 processors in the name - AMD was the innovator and intel the "me too".

Edit:

And by the way, you're STILL a complete and utter putz for giving it a ONE for that single reason. Get a life or get one installed.

FIVE stars.

us3r reviewed v2.0.2 on Sep 25, 2008

Version 2.0.x is very unstable. I should stick to version 1.6.x :/.

RejZoR reviewed v2.0.2 on Sep 14, 2008

It's an excellent program and a very fast one too. But i just can't stand the fact i can't drag and drop files/programs in and out of the VM just by dragging them between windows. MS VirtualPC 2007 does that and it's far better. There is file sharing option but i never could get it working so it's no use to me. I have to upload files somewhere on host system, open up VM, download that and run in VM. Lame, slow and limited.

alister reviewed v2.0.2 on Sep 13, 2008

Will not install on Vista64 for me. It gets to the point were it is copying news files and then starts the rollback process. The only thing it says is "Setup Wizard ended prematurely". It has been like this for previous versions also.

Artem S. Tashkinov reviewed v2.0.2 on Sep 13, 2008

Still a bit unstable in many situations, but very useful and powerful.

Seamless windows is a feature one could only dream about.

A must have!

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.0.2 on Sep 13, 2008

UPDATE AND SUBSEQUENT CHANGE IN SCORE

I have just been working with Mandriva 2009 RC2 and it appears that that release does properly support the automatic recall of screen size and position when started again in a VirtualBox 2.0.2 and Guest Additions installation.

Therefore, since I now know that the fault was with Mandriva RC1 and not with VirtualBox, I feel there is a deserved increase in rating from a 3 to a 4.

I'm glad that I was able to discover this and I wanted to apologize for the mistake.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT: I'm also irritated by the fact that you cannot just drag and drop files from your host interface to the VM. Especially if you are able to successfully install Guest Additions. For whatever reason, my XP and Vista VM's don't see other rigs on my home network, and given this, the lack of drag and drop support becomes even more annoying. It's incredibly frustrating. Gotta drop it down to a 3.

Still not having as much luck installing Suse11 in this new 2.0.2 version. I have been able to get a base install completed a couple of times (other times it just locks up) but there appear to be problems when I try to change some of the configuration options, including video resolution, etc. Mandriva 2009 RC1 installs and runs great though.

One annoying thing about 2.0.0 that is still in 2.0.2. I have installed Mandriva 2009 RC1 and from the Devices menu I have chosen Install Guest Additions.

Here is the problem though. Even though it appears that the Guest Additions installed sucessfully (because the features outlined in Chapter 4 / 4.1, etc. of the help file do seem to be functioning) the feedback provided to the user is so minimal that it simply is not obvious whether it is in place or not.

Even though it appears the Guest Additions are in place, the option is not greyed out on the Devices menu. Nor is there any other visual indicator on that menu as to whether it is active or not.

Not only that, but when you click on it (and yes, it still is able to be clicked on) there is no direct feedback, such as a small dialog box popping up saying "This option is already installed and active. Click OK to return to the guest operating system." or something similar to that.

It's not a bug per se, but it is something I think needs to be addressed, and I will be going to the project page and seek a way to submit that feedback directly to the developers.

With VM Workstation costing nearly $200 USD, it is pretty amazing to get all of the functionality that Virtual Box offers for free. It is an excellent value, and I hope that as it matures, it becomes more robust and even more user friendly.

LRN reviewed v2.0.2 on Sep 13, 2008

On the site they say "amd64" - that's the name of ARCHITECTURE, it's not the "64-Bit AMD Processors".

I'm giving this 1 star because of this mistake.
Software is good, BetaNews entry for it - is not.

roj reviewed v2.0.0 on Sep 7, 2008

DON'T rename - that's what it says on the site and that's what it is.

FIVE stars - it screams on my 6000+ AM2.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.0.0 on Sep 7, 2008

Update: While I am having some issues in trying to get OpenSuse 11 to install, when tested against Virtual PC 2007 SP1, it was apparent to me that VirtualBox is the more compatible, flexible and functional program.

I really think VirtualBox is simply a better, perhaps easier to use for n00bs solution than Virtual PC 2007 SP1. I appreciate the efforts being put forth for this application and would hope to see it frequently improved as more testing feedback is provided.

I do wish that "Guest Additions" was installed by default / fully integrated in every install, especially since I cannot seem to get it to give me any "response / feedback" about its' status when I click upon it via the Devices menu. I'd like it to say something intelligent like "Guest Additions Have Already Been Installed".

Guest Additions, when you get it installed and working, really does add a great deal of functionality and ease of use, and I just don't understand why it would not be a default install on all Windows and Linux VM's.

Also, I had to change from NULL sound driver to DIRECTSOUND driver in order to get sound to function. I would have thought it would have defaulted to a working config automatically.

Original Post:

So far, so good. Mandriva Linux 2009.0 RC1 installed fine and works well in that virtual session. I really like the fact that you can resize the window via simple click and drag and it auto-adjusts the Linux display. Handled the mouse well and offered to have it perform seemlessly between the host Windows XP environment and the Mandriva Virtual Machine.

Mandriva seems pretty sluggish graphically, but I think that may be due more to KDE 4.1 than Virtual Box.

Very good free VM, it seems to be. But I still do have concerns about performance. Also, there seems to be video related issues (valid and usable resolutions) with OpenSUSE 11.

When I had a Mac and ran Parallels, interestingly, Mandriva would refuse to work right but OpenSUSE 10.3 worked like a champ. I'll try some comparisons between VirtualBox and MS Virtual PC 2007 and see what I can come up with.

I hope they keep up the good work on this though.

LRN reviewed v2.0.0 on Sep 5, 2008

amd64 means "any amd64-compatible processor" (which includes all Intel 64-bit processors except Itanium). Please, rename.

As for VBox itself...It works (TM).

us3r reviewed v2.0.0 on Sep 4, 2008

Version 2.0 seems to be little rushed. I've got error when I try to change some settings of VM saying that Snapshot folder cannot be changed although I didn't change the path to Snapshot folder. :/

VinceV reviewed v2.0.0 on Sep 4, 2008

This is a solid virtualization tool and a good option as a replacement for Virtual PC.

It does have it's shortcomings. The biggest being the lack of native network interface support for windows. 2.0 added this support for Mac OS and Solaris, when will it be added for windows?. The Network driver and required bridging has been known to break other applications.

It is the clear choice if you want to run a Linux guest OS. The video card support is superior to Virtal PC.

The other issue that needs to be addressed is the ability to run it alongside Virtual PC and VM Ware.

claussendb reviewed v2.0.0 on Sep 4, 2008

To "BruddaMan "...

While MS VirtualPC was good when it was the only "no cost" game in town, VirtualBox is the new "No Cost King"

Try running anything Linux other than SuSE in MS VPC. VirtualBox has better performance, stability, options and guest tools. It has USB support, better sound support and better networking options. And, VirtualBox can run most any Linux distro that there is out there.

IMHO, VirtualBox is the only choice for virtualizing PCs on a workstation. I look forward to their (Sun's) server-side virtualization tools.

Have a great day all!

BruddaMan reviewed v2.0.0 on Sep 4, 2008

why is this better to use than virtualpc free? it works ok but does the same thing but is opensource so i guess better. but not much better unless you know how to program the code to be custom to your pc.

esr reviewed v2.0.0 on Sep 4, 2008

Yea - 2.0......
change log for your review:

VirtualBox 2.0.0 (released 2008-09-04)

This version is a major update. The following major new features were added:

64 bits guest support (64 bits host only)
New native Leopard user interface on Mac OS X hosts
The GUI was converted from Qt3 to Qt4 with many visual improvements
New-version notifier
Guest property information interface
Host Interface Networking on Mac OS X hosts
New Host Interface Networking on Solaris hosts
Support for Nested Paging on modern AMD CPUs (major performance gain)
Framework for collecting performance and resource usage data (metrics)
Added SATA asynchronous IO (NCQ: Native Command Queuing) when accessing raw disks/partitions (major performance gain)
Clipboard integration for OS/2 Guests
Created separate SDK component featuring a new Python programming interface on Linux and Solaris hosts
Support for VHD disk images
In addition, the following items were fixed and/or added:

VMM: VT-x fixes
AHCI/SATA: improved performance
GUI: keyboard fixes
Linux installer: properly uninstall the package even if unregistering the DKMS module fails
Linux additions: the guest screen resolution is properly restored
Network: added support for jumbo frames (> 1536 bytes)
Shared Folders: fixed guest crash with Windows Media Player 11
Mac OS X: Ctrl+Left mouse click doesn’t simulate a right mouse click in the guest anymore. Use Hostkey+Left for a right mouse click emulation. (bug #1766)

us3r reviewed v1.6.6 on Sep 2, 2008

Keeps getting better and better.
As for disabled USB devices, I have never had such a problem with VirtualBox. Either you messed up something in your system/VM or your USB ports just died which isn't an uncommon issue.

The MAZZTer reviewed v1.6.4 on Aug 17, 2008

This program broke Windows USB support. I am unable to use any USB devices, including my mouse.

Ian C. reviewed v1.6.4 on Aug 10, 2008

This VM app rocks. Was using the free version of VMware for a while, but it's intended for server use, and eats too much resources for my occasional use. Not quite as smooth across a range of different operating systems as VMware, but it's catching up fast. Pretty much anything beats the hell out of Microsoft's VirtualPC, they gutted that thing pretty well after they bought it. I'm still on 1.6.0 :x but this isn't anywhere as big a deal to upgrade as other VM apps.

mimib reviewed v1.6.4 on Aug 7, 2008

I tried this software and it is quite good.
It has a good graphic interface, very user friendly.
It is easy to install on Windows, MacOs X and GNU/Linux.
There are many problems :(
(http://www.valent-blog.e...07/06/30/virtualbox-140/ )
Some issues caused by kernel module and share folders...

Performance are brilliant.

mtnsteve reviewed v1.6.4 on Aug 2, 2008

Fantastic!
I have been a bit intimidated by VM products in the past, but this is something that anyone can master. I had it up and running with Ubuntu and Vista on my XP machine in no time.

Try it!

us3r reviewed v1.6.2 on Jul 30, 2008

Simply awesome. I can't believe I've been using this crappy Virtual PC so long :D.

bouchonx reviewed v1.6.2 on Jun 17, 2008

FAST AND EASY TO INSTALL

marty reviewed v1.6.2 on Jun 6, 2008

This software is great. If Sun continues their work to support 64 bit guest the hundreds of dollars I've spent on VMware is gone with the wind I guess. Besides the Windows version of the program I can run my Virtual Boxes from Debian accessing the Windows partition via ntfs-3g. Great work Sun. BTW the individual who said on another thread the nobody runs openSolaris on the desktop should try it sometime. It's the most beautiful desktop I've ever seen using Gnome.

preinterpost reviewed v1.6.2 on Jun 6, 2008

One of the best VMs but bad QA. Always seem slip in major bugs. Right now my laptop crashes when put to sleep when closing the lid with VB open - I do that often to move the machine and happens with no other soft...
It's also lame that it cannot be run as a service.

While it's up and running great. Starting and stopping lame... Hope this gets better soon with Sun in the driver seat.

Wiser reviewed v1.6 on May 21, 2008

Been using this program for quite a while now and I have to say I absolutely love it. The only real issue I've come across is when installing Ubuntu, I have to set the processor affinity for VirtualBox to use only one core (dual-core machine). Other than that, this is a top-notch piece of software.

berserkchaos reviewed v1.6 on May 3, 2008

better than virtual pc but it doesn't beat vmware workstation.

It's has some issues like the fact that all your VM config becomes useless if you switch the app language.

Honestly... the last time that I heard of something like this was in the earlier versions of Excel.

I'm keeping this one to replace all my VirtualPC VM's, OS testing and other minor tasks, but I'm holding to VMware for my serious projects.

taxis reviewed v1.6 on May 3, 2008

Excellent speed and functionality, very simple and intuitive usage, and all that for free!
My only problem with this software so far is that some processes may freeze when cut and paste operations are performed.

NEOBassDUDE reviewed v1.6 on May 3, 2008

Lots of changes in this version!

Sadly it ruined my virtualized winserver2003 installation. Had to re-install everything :/

I suppose it was my fault since I didn't heed the big honking warning. Oh well! GG

ToeKneeC reviewed v1.6 on May 2, 2008

It works great. Anyone know if I can install the PC Apple Leopard?

preinterpost reviewed v1.6 on May 2, 2008

Don't get me wrong, this VM software is great.

But I don't understand why they don't address the issue of getting it to run as a service on Windows. I was baffled when still not seeing it in 1.6. There seem to be various hacks people did out of desperation but nothing quite works. Every other VM vendor has this under control. Come on guys. Please !!!!

jbl reviewed v1.6 on May 2, 2008

A superior software application. It does a superb job of balancing existing memory and hardware, as it installs. The menus are clear and easy to follow for a first-time user. Far superior to Virtual PC in its relevancy to current operating systems, and usefulness for multiple operating systems running concurrently in a test, training, or demo environment. Well done.

HeyBlinkin reviewed v1.5.6 on Feb 21, 2008

So much better than the competition. Faster than VirtualPC, and lighter on resources than VMWare. It boots up windows xp soooooo fast...i love it!

kucinghitam reviewed v1.5.6 on Feb 21, 2008

Download link is broken. Download here instead http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

cricri_pingouin reviewed v1.5.4 on Jan 8, 2008

It runs Debian extremely well on my machine. DOS runs very well as well, if only I could find DOS drivers for my on-board sound chipset...
Anyway, says what it says on the tin, and does it well, so 5 from me. I also tried Virtual PC 2007, but for some reasons I can't quite figure out, I prefer VirtualBox. For one, VirtualBox is not a dead project (I hope!).

spiked reviewed v1.5.2 on Oct 18, 2007

It's great that this edition is Open Source but be sure to visit the web site and check out the commercial edition which TRULY rivals VMware's latest features.

InnoTek's web site is fairly modest about their virtualization background. For those who don't recognize InnoTek, some history: Microsoft acquired its virtualization technology in February 2003 from Connectix. Previously, Connectix sold Virtual PC for Mac and Windows hosts, which included VM Additions for DOS and Windows guests. For OS/2 hosts and guests, Connectix partnered with German company InnoTek which ported and sold VPC for OS/2 hosts and Additions for OS/2 guests until late 2003. The Additions for OS/2 were more complex than for DOS/Windows because of OS/2 Warp's embedded Win 3.1 subsystem. This required InnoTek's HostMaus.drv on top of VmMouse.sys for full mouse integration and demonstrated the depth of InnoTek's virtualization expertise.

By the time VPC 2004 shipped, Microsoft had struck a deal with InnoTek to bundle the Additions for OS/2. InnoTek would later update the Additions for OS/2 only once more, for Virtual Server 2005. But Microsoft didn't stop calling. In late 2005, Microsoft contracted with InnoTek to add true support for Linux guests by developing Additions which Microsoft released in 2006. Microsoft has done a mediocre job of packaging, distributing, and supporting Additions for Linux, so many people assume Microsoft wrote them. InnoTek's role has been scarcely reported but if examine the actual files, you can easily find InnoTek's name everywhere.

So despite the version 1.x, Virtual Box comes from a company with extensive experience. Their VBoxManage command is far more practical than the hodge-podge of clumsy management tools in other products. Their commercial edition supports USB 2.0 which neither Parallels nor Microsoft can. They even provide RDP access for guests that are not otherwise RDP capable. Today, Microsoft and VMware can only provide VNC access independent of guest capability. If you're running Windows guests, don't miss the custom GINA feature which lets you "pass" Windows logon credentials from host to guest. All this innovation in a footprint which is a tiny fraction of VMware's current size!

Even if you have already invested in VMware, VBox can use your existing VMDK files (with some minor limitations which will get fixed later). I suspect contractual/licensing restrictions are the only reason InnoTek can't support Microsoft's VHD files as well, but you could always use VMware's free converter to do a one-time conversion of VHD to VMDK. You just wouldn't be able to go back and forth because Microsoft's products don't support VMDK.

EarlyMorningHours reviewed v1.5.0 on Sep 2, 2007

From their website: "it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL)".

I think it's important to distinguish when a title is open source and licensed under GPL. Then you know you're not going to be bound to some cryptic "anything you do is a violation of this license" EULA. Anyway on the program itself..

I've been messing around with this latest release for a couple of days now and I have to say that I'm truly impressed. It doesn't have quite the same polish as VMware but then again I didn't expect VirtualBox to be even nearly as good as it is. It's much better than VirtualPC IMHO. And it seems a much more natural fit to be running an open source OS within an open source virtualizer. I haven't tested this out yet, but it appears as though VirtualBox supports three different versions of OS/2 Warp. This is something I've actually needed to do in the past and could never get it to work under VMware. Overall guest support is rather impressive and you can always select "other" if the exact OS you're looking for isn't listed.

But not everything is perfect. The performance relating to suspend and snapshots is not nearly as quick VMware and perhaps it's the wording of things for me, but it doesn't seem as straight forward either. I still haven't figured out how to get sound working on an XP guest installation. And you'll notice a few other nagging things here and there - no showstoppers or anything but nevertheless if you're a longtime VMware user you'll notice them quickly.

If you're not real happy with VirtualPC or don't have nearly 200 clams for VMware Workstation, this is definately your ticket. If I was able to I probably would have given this 4.5 stars. It's just not quite there for me to go all the to 5 stars yets.

Viajante reviewed v1.5.0 on Sep 1, 2007

Yes the link it´s broken, but in the official site there is only the 1.4 version so i´ll wait for them to release in the official site the 1.5 version.
But this software it´s very good for a free one :)

sarreq reviewed v1.5.0 on Sep 1, 2007

a separate 64bit version has been uploaded, and works wonderfully, my rating now goes up :)

Richardky reviewed v1.5.0 on Sep 1, 2007

good stuff here and its free .. !!

war593122 reviewed v1.5.0 on Sep 1, 2007

sn1p34, yeah way to many idiots on this site!

Any how, anyone know what is new?

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog is out dated...

dkratter reviewed v1.5.0 on Aug 31, 2007

Nice to see something like this given away for free (for the most part). It is probably all that is needed for home use, but it can't compete with VMware ESX, which is what everyone uses in an enterprise environment.

sn1p34 reviewed v1.5.0 on Aug 31, 2007

Guess you didn't bother to read the description.. "VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware. Targeted at server" x86 is 32 bit not 64 bit, next time I would recommend you read that before giving a product a bad rating.

Lotheric reviewed v1.5.0 on Aug 31, 2007

Although it's supposedly Vista compatible, it won't install on Vista Ultimate 64bit (saying I need win2k or hgher).

taxis reviewed v1.4.0 on Jun 8, 2007

Great software! I cannot compare it with VMWare which I don't own, but it is very easy to use, faster than QEMU, and its overall design is very functional.

pdhcentral reviewed v1.4.0 on Jun 8, 2007

Very good piece of virtual software. Seems quicker than VmWare. It has more advanced customisable features, which makes managing virtual machines and the disk images much easier.

wgan reviewed v1.4.0 on Jun 7, 2007

I wasn't able to install 1.38 properly on my xp box because of a usb clinch, the rest worked fine though except USB function; I submitted the bug and got the reply yesterday said it's been fixed with 1.40, how it installed smoothly and work perfectly, really nice job!!

AlainF reviewed v1.4.0 on Jun 6, 2007

Used it since 1.3.8. Was able to test Ubuntu with this and even MenuOS (for fun). Network is working. Very lite 15 MG. No problem at all. This GUI is simple. Very good Virtual tools. Now it as Mac Os as host, let's hope it will have Mac Os as Guest on the next release.

Jacquers reviewed v1.3.8 on May 31, 2007

Very good virtualization software. Performance inside VMs was the same as VMWare Workstation in the tests I did, although my host system remained more responsive when using VMWare.