Oracle recently released the release of the new version of the patch for VirtualBox 6.1.28, which includes 23 fixes bug fixes and some pretty big changes for this excellent virtualization tool.
For those who are unfamiliar with VirtualBox, I can tell you that this is a multiplatform virtualization tool, that gives us the possibility of creating virtual disk drives where we can install an operating system within the one we normally use.
VirtualBox allows us to run virtual machines remotely, through the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), iSCSI support. Another function it presents is to mount ISO images as virtual CD or DVD drives, or as a floppy disk.
Main new features of VirtualBox 6.1.28
Among the most important changes that has been introduced in this new version, the initial support for kernels 5.14 and 5.15 and RHEL 8.5 distribution for Linux guests and hosts, plus also the Added support for Windows 11 guest systems.
Also for Linux hosts, detection of kernel module installation has been improved to avoid unnecessary rebuilds of modules, as well as for Linux guest systems they have adjusted the line input volume when emulating HDA devices.
As for the bug fixes that I know of implementation in this new version, for example, the solution to the problem with access to debug logs when loading nested guest systems is mentioned, it was resolved in the virtual machine administrator.
On the VMSVGA virtual graphics adapter resolved a black screen issue when changing the screen size after restoring a saved state. VMSVGA is also compatible with the Linux Mint distribution.
As well the virtio-net appliance implementation has been updated and the correct handling of disconnecting the network cable when the virtual machine is in saved state has been provided. Enhanced capabilities for managing subnet address ranges.
The audio driver solves the problems with logging out after the computer goes to sleep, as well as continuing to play after creating a snapshot when using the AC'97 codec emulator.
Of the other changes:
- The GUI solves scrolling problems on touch screens.
- Fixed an issue that caused error messages to be written when using VHD images.
- NAT addresses a security issue in handling TFTP requests with relative paths.
- The bindings provide support for Python 3.9.
- Improved VRDP clipboard sharing services.
Finally if you are interested in knowing more about it About the release of this patch version of VirtualBox 6.1.26, you can check the details in the following link.
How to install the patch version of VirtualBox 6.1.26 in Ubuntu and derivatives?
For those who are already VirtualBox users and they have not yet updated to the new version, they should know that they can only update by opening a terminal and typing the following command in it:
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade
Now for those who are not yet users, you should know that before installing, they need to ensure that hardware virtualization is enabled. If they are using an Intel processor, they must enable VT-x or VT-d from their computer's BIOS.
In the case of Ubuntu and derivatives, we have two methods to install the application or, where appropriate, update to the new version.
The first method is by downloading the "deb" package offered from the official website of the application. The link is this.
The other method is adding the repository to the system. To add the official VirtualBox package repository, they should open a terminal with Ctrl + Alt + T and run the following command:
echo "deb https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian $(lsb_release -cs) contrib" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list
Done this now We must add the public PGP key from the official VirtualBox packages repository to the system.
Otherwise, we will not be able to use the official VirtualBox package repository. To add the public PGP key from the official VirtualBox package repository, run the following command:
wget -q https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
We must update the APT package repository with the following command:
sudo apt-get update
Once this is done, now we are going to proceed to install VirtualBox to the system with:
sudo apt install virtualbox-6.1
And ready with it, we can use the new version of VirtualBox in our system.