VirtualBox 7.1 Beta: ‘Modernised’ UI, Wayland Clipboard Sharing + More
If you plan on trying the new Linux Mint 22 release in a virtual machine, why not double-up the fun by taking it for a spin in the VirtualBox 7.1 beta, which slipped out last night.
Don’t tune out—most VirtualBox updates are fairly modest, I know. But the upcoming release of VirtualBox 7.1? It’s being billed by Oracle as a ‘major update’ – about time too, I say!
VirtualBox 7.1 introduces a “modernized look and feel” that gives users with a choice of UI mode: Basic streamlines the interface, reducing the amount of options, settings, and details shown; Expert puts all of VirtualBox’s functionality in view, within reach.
Here’s an example of the difference between the modes in the Settings > System section, as it looks in the current beta (could change between now and the final, stable release): –
There are other GUI changes tucked up in this update too. Oracle (who make VirtualBox) say this version improves the ‘overall accessibility’ of the app, which is welcome, and updates the underlying Qt toolkit to a more recent version.
Use VirtualBox on a Linux distribution that uses Wayland?
Good news: VirtualBox 7.1 supports clipboard sharing under Wayland for Linux hosts and guests. This is such a handy feature, and with Wayland now widely in use, I’m pleased to see Oracle devs have got this working again.
Sticking with Linux (kinda), the VirtualBox 7.1 release is the first version to officially support Apple Silicon and ARM virtualisation of Linux and *BSD VMs1. Preview and test builds have been available prior, but the stable 7.0 series only supports macOS/Intel.
VirtualBox ARM support has been much-requested. While this release only adds support for Apple Silicon (which is ARM, for those unaware), my hope is that some groundwork can be shared to bring VirtualBox to Linux ARM (and maybe Windows ARM).
VirtualBox also has brand-new logo and wordmark on show in this version.
Finally, there are some tweaks to VirtualBox’s Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) support, including a performance dashboard for to show resource usage for cloud instances, and options to clone or reset compute instances.
Other changes: –
- Improved screen recording performance
- VirtualBox Remote Desktop Extension (VRDE) certificate tweaks
- NAT gains new engine with IPv6 support
- EFI adds Microsoft DB/KEX certificates to new VMs
Oracle makes no mention of improvements to the VirtualBox’s overall performance but the 7.1 beta feels peppier than the 7.0 series. VM startup times are prompt, and the general responsiveness of the app seems perceptually improved.
If any of that sounds worth testing — this is a beta, remember — you can download VirtualBox 7.1 for all major OSes, with DEB packages provided for Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04, and the latest 24.04 LTS release.