VirtualBox for Mac
Virtual machines tool.
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VirtualBox overview
VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualization software for ARM and x86_64 hardware.
VirtualBox enables users to run multiple operating systems concurrently on a single physical computer by creating and managing virtual machines. It lets you allocate dedicated hardware resources—like CPU cores, memory, storage, and network interfaces—to each virtual machine, effectively mimicking an independent computer system within your host operating system.
VirtualBox can be used for software development, testing, running legacy applications, and experimenting with different OS configurations without risking the stability of the primary system.
What’s new in version 7.2.0
New Features
- GUI: Moved global and VM tools from hamburger menus to global tools taskbar (vertically on the left) and the VM tools tabs (horizontally above the right hand panel) to make them easier to reach
- Windows/Arm host: Arm virtualization of VMs added, in the unified Windows installer package
- Arm host: Virtualization of Windows 11/Arm VMs
- Linux host: Video decoding acceleration when 3D is enabled
- Windows/Arm guest: Guest additions for new OS type Windows 11/Arm
- macOS Arm host: Experimental 3D acceleration support using DXMT, removing the previous non working solution using DXVK on top of MoltenVK. 3D acceleration is not supported on macOS hosts using Intel CPUs anymore.
- Storage: The NVMe storage controller emulation is now part of the open source base package
Fixes
- Arm VMs: Note that the saved state of Arm VMs from VirtualBox 7.1 is incompatible with VirtualBox 7.2, so please shut down such VMs in saved state before upgrading to 7.2 (snapshots with associated saved state created with 7.1 will no longer work with 7.2)
- VMM: Improved x86_64 and Arm CPU feature reporting when using Windows Hyper-V as the virtualization engine
- VMM: Added xsave/xrestor instruction handling when using Windows/x86_64 Hyper-V as the virtualization engine, offering the x86_64-v3 instruction set extensions (including AVX and AVX2) on recent CPUs
- VMM: Fixed issue when X86_64-v3 features were not passed to the guest (github:gh-36)
- VMM/HM: Fixed Nested Virtualization feature on Intel CPUs
- GUI: Fixed a bug in clone VM wizard which made impossible to include snapshots in clone result (github:GH-59)
- GUI: Polished Preferences and Settings pages, NLS fixing
- GUI: Improved handling of keyboard LEDs in the Soft Keyboard
- GUI: Added checkbox for making a Shared Folder global to all VMs
- GUI: Removed IO-APIC from Arm VM settings
- Graphics: Avoid assertion when guest tries to use VMSVGA 3D functions when the feature is disabled
- Audio: Fixed crash in rare circumstances (github:gh-72)
- NAT: Multiple fixes and improvements, for example better DNS server handling, saving of the VM settings and generating a boot file name which stays within the length limit
- NAT Network: Use the (almost) same code as for NAT, unifying behavior and features
- NAT: Fixed possible crash in rare circumstances when no nameservers could be detected in the host system
- Storage: Fixed corruption of VMDK images when resizing
- Video Recording: Fixed frame synchronization, a small memory leak and other bugs
- TPM: Fixed save state load failures
- Arm VMs: ACPI now available
- API/Unattended: Added explicit unattended installation support for Oracle Linux 10
- API and VBoxManage: Added functionality to define global Shared Folders for all VMs
- API: Fixed issue when OVF/OVA import resulted in a broken VM on Arm (bug #22370)
- API: Fixed issue when exporting a VM which had an inaccessible disk resulted in crash
- VBoxManage: Document currently unavailable NAT options
- Linux host and guest: Initial support for kernel version 6.16
- Linux/Solaris host: Fixed swapped scan code for Pause and Num Lock keys in the table used when relying on Xkb for translation
- Windows host: Removed release assertion causing crash of VBoxUsbMon driver if unloading fails
- Arm host: vboxwebsrv is now included in the packages
- Linux host and guest: Introduced initial support for kernel 6.17
- Linux guest: Fixed handling of (long optional) vboxvideo kernel module in init script
- Linux guest: Fixed start failure of VBoxClient with kernel from the 2.6 series or older
- Windows/Arm guest: Added WDDM Graphics driver, with 2D and 3D mode
- Windows/Arm guest: Added Shared Folder feature
- Windows Host: Added improvements in Windows drivers installation
- Linux Guest Additions: Fixed issue when autorun installer was not automatically starting on Additions ISO image insert for Oracle Linux 10 and RHEL 10 guests
- BIOS: Fixed keyboard translation, added and updated several entries and do not report keypresses when scan code and ASCII code are both zero
- BIOS: Fixed error reporting fo single sided floppy disks
- UEFI: Added workaround for Grub bug causing guest OS crashes
- UEFI: Fixed macOS kernel logging over serial port (github:gh-82)
- 3rd Party Tools: Eliminated build time dependency on libIDL and IASL
VirtualBox for Mac
Free
In English
Version 7.2.0
What users say about VirtualBox
Value: 2.0
Only suitbale for testing. I do a few linux OS testings once in a while. But over all it's just Oracle quality: low and not worth a penny. It was such a good software before Oracle took it over.
Other user ratings:
Ease of use | 2.0
Features | 3.0
Reliability | 1.0
Customer support | 1.0
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(164 Reviews of VirtualBox)
Comments
User Ratings
Jul 16 2025
Version: 7.1.12
The virtualization wars on Mac are hearing up. New entrants, each with its own strengths are UTM and VirtualBuddy. VirtualBox is a nice alternative for freeware as it has numerous customization options for the virtual machine you create. Paid alternatives are Parallels Desktop for Mac (disclaimer: I've been using Parallels Desktop for Mac since version 5) and VMware Fusion. Too close to call if you want free.
Apr 5 2023
Version: 7.0.6
There is now a Silicon beta. https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/7.0.6/VirtualBox-7.0.6_BETA4-155176-macOSArm64.dmg
Nov 24 2021
Version: 6.1.30
6.1.28 and 6.1.30 stopped working with Vagrant for different reasons on my 10.13.6 systems. I'm wondering if Oracle stopped running regression tests against this version of MacOS. I'm stuck with 6.1.26 to run my Vagrant boxes and testing.
Apr 30 2021
Version: 6.1.22
MU> v6.1.22 still works perfectly in macOS 10.11 and I can't see any different requirement on their website. Instead, I see a neat improvement in speed since 6.1.20. I'm using it exclusively with Android-x86 guest, so of course it's a lot slower than a real Android, but it's definitely usable. Last year I've tried it with MacOS guests and it was absolutely pitiful compared to VMware Fusion.
