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Oracle VM VirtualBox’s main features
Oracle VM VirtualBox is a cross-platform virtualization application meaning it install on existing Intel or AMD-based computers and supports a variety of host and guest operating systems. It extends the capabilities of your existing computer so that it can run multiple OSes, inside multiple virtual machines, at the same time. You have the ability to run Windows and Linux on your Mac, run Windows Server 2016 on your Linux server, run Linux on your Windows PC, and so on, all alongside your existing applications.
My favorite thing about Oracle VM VirtualBox is that it has great hardware support. You can throw just about any hardware at it and it will provide a smooth experience. Among many other features, Oracle VM VirtualBox supports the following:
- Guest multiprocessing (SMP). Oracle VM VirtualBox can present up to 32 virtual CPUs to each virtual machine, irrespective of how many CPU cores are physically present on your host.
- USB device support. Oracle VM VirtualBox implements a virtual USB controller and enables you to connect arbitrary USB devices to your virtual machines without having to install device-specific drivers on the host.
- Hardware compatibility. Oracle VM VirtualBox virtualizes a vast array of virtual devices, among them many devices that are typically provided by other virtualization platforms. That includes IDE, SCSI, and SATA hard disk controllers, several virtual network cards and sound cards, virtual serial and parallel ports and an Input/Output Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (I/O APIC), which is found in many computer systems. This enables easy cloning of disk images from real machines and importing of third-party virtual machines into Oracle VM VirtualBox.
- Full ACPI support. The Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is fully supported by Oracle VM VirtualBox. This enables easy cloning of disk images from real machines or third-party virtual machines into Oracle VM VirtualBox.
- Multiscreen resolutions. Oracle VM VirtualBox virtual machines support screen resolutions many times that of a physical screen, allowing them to be spread over a large number of screens attached to the host system.
- Built-in iSCSI support. This unique feature enables you to connect a virtual machine directly to an iSCSI storage server without going through the host system.
- PXE Network boot. The integrated virtual network cards of Oracle VM VirtualBox fully support remote booting using the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE).
- VM groups. Oracle VM VirtualBox provides a groups feature that enables the user to organize and control virtual machines collectively, as well as individually.
- Remote machine display. The VirtualBox Remote Desktop Extension (VRDE) enables high-performance remote access to any running virtual machine. This extension supports the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) originally built into Microsoft Windows, with special additions for full client USB support.
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Supported OS
While we only recommend installing Windows 10 VMs, there are a number of supported Operating Systems. Technically supported Operating Systems are:
Windows hosts (64-bit):
- Windows 2000
- Windows XP
- Windows Server 2003
- Windows Vista
- Windows Server 2008
- Windows 7
- Windows Server 2008 R2
- Windows 8
- Windows 8.1
- Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (1709) build 16299
- Windows Server 2012
- Windows Server 2012 R2
- Windows Server 2016
- Windows Server 2019
Mac OS X hosts (64-bit): (Intel hardware is required.)
- Experimental support
Linux hosts (64-bit)
- Linux 2.4 – limited function
- Linux 2.6 – limited function
- Linux 3.x and later – full function, all versions including 32bit and 64bit
- Oracle Solaris 10 and Oracle Solaris 11
- FreeBSD – limited function
- OpenBSD – at least version 3.7 or newer
- OS/2 Warp – limited function
Conclusion
Oracle VM VirtualBox is a robust and super easy to use Virtualization software with a long list of great features. Superior hardware compatibility support, outstanding multiprocessing and multi-screen resolutions make this a super fun and powerful software to increase productivity. Hopefully you enjoyed this article and let’s move on to the next one: VirtualBox – Installing VirtualBox
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