VirtualBox 7.0release: support for full virtual machine encryption, new 3D graphics stack, etc.

CTOnews.com, Oct. 11-Oracle's VM VirtualBox software hasn't had a major update for a long time. VirtualBox 6.0 made its debut in 2018 and VirtualBox 6.1 in 2019, but it has been quiet ever since. Now, the official release of VirtualBox 7.0brings some important features, such as support for full virtual machine encryption and a new Direct3D 11-based graphics stack that supports the use of Linux through DXVK.

VirtualBox 7.0now allows virtual machines to run with full encryption, including encryption for configuring logs and saving state. However, for VirtualBox 7.0, this virtual machine encryption support is only shown through the command line interface.

VirtualBox 7.0also introduces a new 3D stack. VirtualBox 3D support is based on DirectX 11, and Oracle says it is bringing DXVK utilization (specifically: DXVK-Native) to non-Windows hosts, which means that the Direct3D stack will eventually run on Vulkan.

CTOnews.com learned that VirtualBox 7.0 also supports other larger features, such as Intel and AMD virtual IOMMU devices, virtual TPM 1.2 and 2.0 device support, EFI secure startup, and various GUI enhancements. Vorbis is the default audio codec for WebM container audio recording, while Opus is no longer in use, initial support for automatic VirtualBox Guest Additions for Linux guests updates, and many other changes. UEFI SecureBoot and TPM support now also allows Windows 11 guests to work with VirtualBox 7.0. VirtualBox 7.0also updated the Qt toolkit in use, improved the accessibility of the user interface, and had various fixes.

For downloads of VirtualBox 7.0and more details, please see VirtualBox.org.