VirtualBox is virtualization software for x86 / x64 architectures created by the German Innotek GmbH and currently developed by Oracle Corporation. With this application, installing other operating systems, known as “Guest Systems,” into another ” Host ” system, each with different resources, is possible.
Operating systems supported by host mode include “GNU / Linux, Mac OS X, OS / 2 Warp, Microsoft Windows, and Solaris / OpenSolaris”. Virtualizing operating systems such as FreeBSD, GNU / Linux, OpenBSD, OS / Windows, Solaris, and MS-DOS is possible.
What is Oracle VM VirtualBox?
The application was first introduced under a proprietary software license. Still, in January 2007, VirtualBox OSE (Open Source Edition) was released under the GPL 2 license and is currently available exclusively for personal or evaluation use, with a particular Oracle Oracle VirtualBox version available and “Personal Use and Virtual Box Evaluation “(Virtual Box Personal Use and Evaluation License) license and the Open Source version GPBox license is subject to the free VirtualBox OSE license.
VirtualBox offers good functionality, such as iSCSI support and remote operation of virtual machines over Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), but these options are not available in free versions.
Capable of emulating hardware, the hard drives of guest systems are stored on host systems under a proprietary extension called Virtual Disk Image or VDI, which is incompatible with other virtualization software. Another presentation function is to mount ISO images as an optical virtual CD or DVD drive.
Currently, after a long way, VirtualBox is included in the latest version, 6.0, and other features include:
- One of the first things the user will notice is the simple and clean interface. The interface has been refreshed and allows you to view snapshots, recordings, discs, etc., allowing access to information.
- This new version offers better screen detection and is more straightforward in configuring virtual machines.
- You can use the file manager of a running virtual machine in Menu → Machine → File manager. This File Manager lets you copy/transfer files between the host and guest systems.
- There is a significant improvement in scaling and HiDPI support.
- VirtualBox 6.0.0 comes with support for exporting virtual machines to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
- Windows supports 3D graphics for its guests, and VMSVGA 3D graphics device emulation is available as an emulation for Solaris and Gnu / Linux guests.
- The vboxing mount utility for hosts allows users to access the contents of guest disks on the host computer.
- VirtualBox 6.0.0 now has enhanced audio and video recording that can be activated separately.
- Other improvements and fixes include serial port emulation, installer fixes for Solaris, performance improvements in shared folders, vboxvideo rendering fix in the standard kernel, and so on. All this is in addition to many other improvements. You can find it in Changelog.
What is not VirtualBox for?
Games are in an area where virtual machines do not work. To get the gaming experience you want, you need a real CPU, GPU, and RAM, especially if you’re playing games with many resources, such as Crysis. Audio and video editing also do not work because you do not want a virtual layer between the application and the hardware. Beyond this and other areas, virtual machines work very well.
Virtual machines can also be helpful for users who want to play with or switch to Linux but do not want to jump to the shark when formatting their familiar operating system and switching to Linux. Virtual machines make these users comfortable with Linux, so they can confidently make changes when ready. You may also use Linux “inside” your perfect Mac OS X or Windows 10.
Why Use a Virtual Machine?
Many Linux users should start dual booting because they need some special software or services that are not yet available for Linux. In many countries, the software required for tax reporting and other government-related business is only supported in Windows. Instead of experiencing the complexity and pain of dual boot, you can use the virtual machine to run Windows software.
Regarding the vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, I would be cautious in executing them on my host system. I feel more comfortable keeping Windows in a virtual content environment. This way, even if compromised, it does not harm my entire system or data and only affects the limited files I access. Although I rarely use this machine, I run a machine with Windows 10 in a virtual environment to perform some tasks that cannot be performed on Linux.
What are the Benefits of Virtual Machines?
One of the most significant benefits of virtual machine use is that you can run multiple Linux distributions on the same hardware on the same hardware, so you don’t have to restart to switch between deployments. As a Linux journalist, I must make and watch a few distributions. As a Linux user, it’s even more important to master all significant distributions rather than being “blocked by the vendor” or entirely dependent on anyone. I can run different desktop environments on the same system using virtual machines without logging out to change the settings.
If you plan to become a system administrator or developer, you won’t want to know a single deployment; You must be an expert on any Linux. You never know which operating system your employer or customer will use. You can’t say, “I’m sorry, I only know Ubuntu.” If you are a developer, you need different deployments to test your applications.
You can see that using virtual machines has many advantages. The most significant advantage of using virtualization instead of multiple boots is efficiency. I spent a lot of time formatting hard drives and switching between deployments. With virtual machines, you can start a new virtual machine for deployment without affecting your business; Opening a new application is as easy.
System requirements
A virtual machine uses some of the host’s RAM and video memory to create a virtual disk and emulate another system. The more systems we want to run simultaneously, the more hardware the host system needs for the virtual machine to do its job.
VirtualBox IDE, SATA, SCSI hard drives, a wide variety of network cards, sound cards, parallel ports, etc. It is compatible with various devices, such as. It provides full-screen, 3D acceleration, file sharing between host and guest, network configuration, and more.
It is available in a particular version that is free under the VirtualBox Personal Use and Evaluation License and in an open-source version under the GPL (General Public License).
The following operating systems can be installed with VirtualBox:
- Microsoft Windows
- GNU / Linux
- Mac OS X
- OS / 2
- Solaris / OpenSolaris
- MS-DOS, FreeBSD, Android, etc.
Minimum Hardware Requirements
- 2600 MHz Intel / AMD processor.
- 512 MB RAM.
- 5000 MB of free hard disk space.