Today, Oracle released VirtualBox 7.0.16 as a new stable update to its open-source, free, and cross-platform virtualization software bringing quite a few interesting changes for Linux users.
Coming three months after VirtualBox 7.0.14, the VirtualBox 7.0.16 release is here to introduce initial support for Linux kernel 6.8 into Linux Guest Additions, which means that you can now also run distributions powered by Linux kernel 6.8 inside virtual machines.
VirtualBox 7.0.16 also introduces initial support for the upcoming Linux 6.9 kernel series for both Linux guests and hosts, allowing you to install VirtualBox on a machine running Linux kernel 6.9, as well as to run GNU/Linux distributions powered by Linux kernel 6.9 inside virtual machines.
This release also adds the possibility to prevent the VirtualBox kernel module from automatic loading during system boot by adding mod_name.disabled=1 parameter to the kernel command line, adds fixes related to UBSAN warnings discovered on recent Linux distros, and fixes a mk_pte warning introduced in Linux kernel 6.6 LTS.
On top of that, it fixes the building of the VirtualBox kernel modules against GCC 13.2, fixes a Linux virtual machine crash with some recent AMD CPU models, and fixes an issue when VBox.sh was deleting the wrong VBoxSVC IPC socket when the virtual machine was started using sudo.
For all supported platforms, VirtualBox 7.0.16 fixes a guru meditation executing nested-guests using the KVM hypervisor in the guest on Intel hosts, fixes an issue when the EHCI controller was mishandling short packets, fixes an issue on macOS hosts when App Nap was affecting the performance of the virtual machine.
This release also introduces general audio improvements, graphics enhancements to Windows Guest Additions if you’re running Windows inside a virtual machine, along with improved starting of Windows guest processes in the correct Windows session, and updates the usage information and documentation for VBoxManage and vboximg-mount.
Check out the changelog on the official website for more details about the changes introduced in VirtualBox 7.0.16, which you can download right now from here for all supported platforms. Don’t forget to also download and install the Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack from the same page.
Last updated 3 hours ago