Oracle has released the second maintenance update for the latest VirtualBox 7.1 series.
VirtualBox 7.1.4 includes a small set of improvements, bug fixes, and stability enhancements to this open-source, cross-platform virtualisation tool, though new major new features are included.
Among the changes are 2 which affect the Linux Guest Additions package (installing this enables Linux VMs to integrate better with the underlying host OS and hardware, be it a Linux, macOS, Windows, or Solaris host).
Firstly, Linux Guest Additions picks up initial support for the upcoming Linux kernel 6.12 release, which due out in the next few months. Adding initial support now means VMs should just keep chugging away without any major hiccups if/when the user upgrades to Linux 6.12.
Secondly, Linux Guest Additions now has an automatic upgrade option (via the Devices menu) for those running Linux guests in VirtualBox on Macs equipped with ARM (aka Apple Silicon/M-Series) chips.
Sticking with Linux, a number of users have experienced constant flickering, black screens, and garbled screen issues when using newer Linux kernels. VirtualBox 7.1.4 is said to improve screen glitches (but going by the bug report, doesn’t resolve them fully).
Other changes include:
- Turkish, Indonesian and Italian language support
- Issue restoring 7.0.x saved states resolved re: NAT
- VBoxManage resolves managing/viewing ‘inaccessible VMs’
- On Windows, system DLL size checking now works in Windows 11 24H2
- EFI network boot support restored
The official change-log has a few more details, along with some links to bug reports should you want further information about a specific fix/tune-up.
VirtualBox 7.1.4 is free, open-source software for Windows, macOS (including Apple Silicon), Linux, and Solaris. Download the latest version from the official website, with Linux download options providing DEB installers for Ubuntu (for 24.10 download the 24.04 package).
Don’t need the latest features and fixes? You can install an older version of VirtualBox from the Ubuntu repos using sudo apt install virtualbox.