Oracle has quietly released VirtualBox 7.0, a major update to its client virtualization solution that adds full support for Windows 11.

There’s no official announcement yet, but a Beta 1 post from August notes that VirtualBox 7.0 includes full virtual machine (VM) encryption, an updated look and feel, an improved 3D experience for virtual machines that include DirectX 11 or OpenGL support, and a few other new features. And the changelog for this release reveals a few more tidbits.

But the big deal, I think, is that VirtualBox 7.0 finally supports Windows 11 and its new hardware requirements fully. Previously, VirtualBox didn’t meet the Windows 11 processor, TPM, or RAM requirements even if the host PC did.

VirtualBox isn’t as technically sophisticated as Microsoft’s Hyper-V client, which is an optional feature of  Windows 11 Pro and up. But it offers some advantages over Hyper-V as well, and it works on Windows 11 Home. Plus, it’s free.

You can learn more on the VirtualBox website.

Tagged with virtualization, VirtualBox