Oracle announced the 4.3.24 release of VirtualBox this Monday which improves stability and fixes regressions.
For Linux users, VirtualBox 4.3.24 fixes the Kernel 4.0 building issue for guest additions and virtual screens deactivation problem. Below is the full change log:
VMM: emulation fix for the ENTER instruction under certain conditions; fixes Solaris 10 guests (VT-x without unrestricted guest execution)
VMM: fix for handling NMIs on Linux hosts with X2APIC enabled
NAT/NAT Network: fix connection drops when the host’s DHCP lease was renewed (4.3.22 regression; Windows hosts only)
NAT: don’t crash on an empty domain list when switching the DNS host configuration (4.3.22 regression; Mac OS X hosts only)
PXE: re-enable it on Windows hosts (4.3.22 regression; Windows hosts only)
Shared Folders: fixed a problem with Windows guests (4.3.22 regression)
Audio: improved record quality when using the DirectSound audio backend
VBoxManage: when executing the controlvm command take care that the corresponding VM runtime changes are saved permanently
Windows Installer: properly install the 32-bit version of VBoxRes.dll on 32-bit hosts
Oracle has released a new maintenance release for VirtualBox 4.3 series. For Linux Guests, X.Org server 1.17 now is supported, guest additions do not build with 3.19 kernel issue is fixed.
Full changes in VirtualBox 4.3.22:
VMM: refined measurement of TSC frequency on the host, improves timekeeping for guests
VMM: decreased CPU load resulting from guest MMIO writes to the virtual APIC
VMM: fixed interception of debug exceptions, observed while using the dbx debugger on Solaris guests (VT-x only)
GUI: 3D overlay window positioning code improved, fixed potential misplacement of 3D accelerated guest graphics content
GUI: fixed accident SSL authentication failures during update check on Windows hosts
GUI: never send the “ACPI power” keyboard scancode to the guest, we have the ACPI power button for that
GUI: was unable to properly restore seamless mode VM from snapshot/saved-state under some circumstances
VBoxHeadless: don’t crash if 3D is enabled in the VM settings
ATA: fixed several passthrough issues
Audio: fixed DirectSound failure when the the host has no audio input device
SB16: fixed compatibility issue
Storage: fixed broken CD/DVD passthrough when using the IDE controller
NAT: new ping proxy for Windows hosts
NAT: Properly report outbound connect(2) failures to guest with TCP RST or ICMP
NAT Network: no need for frequent wakeups in VBoxNetDHCP and VBoxNetNAT
Host-only adapter: prevent Windows from creating an “Unidentified network”
Bridged Networking: don’t leak host-to-guest traffic to the wireless network when bridging to a wireless interface
Main: fixed a possible race when changing the medium leading to a deadlock under rare conditions
VBoxManage: fixed return code if starting a VM failed
API: fixed 2 deadlock opportunities related to medium handling
API: fixed bug in XPCOM which created too few worker threads, sporadically resulting in a deadlock
SDK: fixed a garbage collection leak in the Python VirtualBox webservice API binding
Linux hosts: fixes for activated SMAP (Broadwell and later)
X11 guests: prevent unwanted hiding of guest screens on multi-monitor guests
X11 guests: added support for X.Org Server 1.17
X11 Additions: fixed a memory leak in VBoxService if libdbus is available but dbus-daemon isn’t running
Windows Additions: prevent VBox WDDM driver from loading if host reports weak OpenGL capabilities. 3D content now can be shown over Remote Desktop connection.
Winodws Additions: some fixes for recent Windows 10 Previews
Linux Additions: fixed a compatibility issue with 64-bit Linux 2.4 kernels
Linux Additions: fixed a potential use-after-free when unloading the VBoxGuest module
Linux Additions: Linux 3.19 fixes
Download / Install VirtualBox in Ubuntu:
For Linux, you can either download the .deb installer (click install .deb package via Software Center) from:
Oracle finally made the Virtualbox binary packages for Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic available in its official Linux repository. Which means running regular system updates via Software Updater will keep your Virtualbox release always up-to-date.
While Ubuntu 14.10 repositories provide the Virtualbox 4.3.18, the latest has reached the version 4.3.20. For the changelog, see the web page.
How to Add Virtualbox Repository in Ubuntu:
Open terminal from the Unity Dash or just press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, paste the command below into terminal and run to get the key:
The latest Virtualbox 4.3.4 was released recently. Now it works with Linux Kernel 3.13. This tutorial shows you what’s new and how to install or upgrade to Virtualbox 4.3.4 in Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.04, Linux Mint.
What’s New in Virtualbox 4.3.4:
VMM: fix for a bug in the Local APIC emulation causing a BSOD when booting certain guests (4.3.0 regression;)
VMM: fixed loading of saved states if VT-x/AMD-V was disabled (4.3.2 regression;)
VMM: fixed single-stepping inside the guest for certain instructions (VT-x only;)
VMM: fixed a performance issue involving APIC accesses after rebooting a VM (4.3.0 regression; VT-x only;)
VMM: fixed TPR patching to be enabled for 32-bit guests even when the chosen guest type is 64-bit (4.3.0 regression; AMD-V only)
VMM: fixed occasional VINF_EM_TRIPLE_FAULT errors on hosts without the unrestricted guest execution feature
GUI: don’t bother the user with the BPP warning if no Guest Additions are installed
GUI: fixed machine-window paint artifacts on VM reboot / guest-screen resize
GUI: make sure the assigned license and description are attached to the exported appliance
GUI: fixed bugs in close VM action restrictions handling
GUI: fixed incorrect wizards text colors for some unusual look and feel styles
GUI: should restore seamless mode as soon as possible after VM reboot or shutdown
GUI: fixes for medium enumeration
GUI: the OS X hot corners were not accessible while a VirtualBox VM is running (Mac OS X hosts only;)
GUI: fixed an old bug which bared the host from cleanly shutdown / reboot if the VM selector window is open (Mac OS X hosts only;)
Host-only Networking: fixed creating of host-only network interfaces (4.3.0 regression;)
NAT: don’t run into an infinite loop in case the host cannot access any DNS server (4.3.0 regression;)
NAT: don’t re-connect the cable if the DNS information changes and the cable was disconnected before (4.3.0 regression;)
NAT: fixed several issues with automatically starting / terminating of NAT networks on VM start / stop and configuration changes
VBoxNetDHCP: don’t block prevent VBoxSVC from terminating
2D Video acceleration: fix crashes on presentation mode switches
BusLogic: allow to run VMs with more than one BusLogic SCSI controller enabled
Keyboard: fixed a VM crash if a VM was resumed from a saved state where at least one key was pressed
VBoxSVC: fixed a heap corruption under certain conditions (4.3.0 regression)
VBoxSVC: fixed a race leading to a hang during initialization
OVF: fixed import logic for OVF appliances containing multiple VMs
OVF: improved logic for finding an appropriate image format during OVF import
API: block the removal of the current snapshot if it has child snapshots (only relevant for VMs without snapshottable hard disks, their presence always prevented removal), which resulted in VM configuration corruption
API: mark VM configurations with snapshots but without current snapshot as inaccessible, as this combination is nonsense
API: fixed information for some automatically generated events (only with XPCOM, Windows host was not affected), which caused errors when getting some of the attributes over the webservice
SDK: extended the functionality coverage for the C bindings
Guest Control: various bug fixes and improved VBoxManage help
Windows hosts: another attempt to fix the massive DPC latency
Mac OS X hosts: properly sign the kernel extensions for Mavericks hosts
Mac OS X hosts: fixed a bug where the VirtualBox dock icon was not properly removed from the dock after a VM terminated preventing Mavericks hosts from shutting down
Mac OS X hosts: fixed minor installer issue
Linux hosts / guests: Linux 3.13 compile fixes
Linux guests: build the vboxvideo kernel module correctly on OL/RHEL 6.1 guests
Linux guests: make 3D work on Slackware 14.1
Guest Additions/3D: fixed an occasional dead-lock
Windows Additions/3D: fixed possible memory leaking
Windows Additions/XPDM: use separate tables containing valid video modes for each virtual monitor
Windows Additions: fixed automatic logins for Vista and newer Windows guests
Virtualbox 4.3.2, the first maintenance release of virtualbox 4.3 was released with lots of bugfixes. Here’s how to upgrade it in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, Ubuntu 12.04 Precise, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal and Linux Mint.
What’s New in Virtualbox 4.3.2:
VMM: fixed restoring of the auxiliary TSC MSR in VT-x that caused host BSODs on Windows 8.1 hosts and unpredictable behavior on other hosts
VMM: provide fake values for a couple of MSRs to make more guests happy on certain hosts
VMM: fixed detection of VT-x on certain machines where the BIOS would not set the VMX LOCK feature bit, which affected the VM settings in the GUI
VMM: fixed TPR threshold which caused BSODs on Windows XP guests that use the I/O APIC (VT-x only;
VMM: fixed PATM saved state incompatibility for software virtualized VMs
VMM: don’t fail if AMD-V isn’t available if the VM is configured to use software virtualization
GUI: fixed guest resize breakage on visual representation mode change (when switching from normal to fullscreen etc)
GUI: make sure the guest screen is resized after restoring a VM from a saved state if the host screen size changed
GUI: disabled SCROLL LED sync from HID LEDs synchronization (Mac OS X hosts only)
Webcam passthrough improvements including GUI support (see the manual for more information)
Guest Control: implemented more IGuestSession methods
Guest Control: added support for deleting and renaming guest files + directories in VBoxManage
Guest Control: various bugfixes
API: incorrect handling of hardware UUID default value, resulting in an all zero DMI/SMBIOS UUID, which leads to Windows requesting re-activation
3D support: fixed crash on shutdown if 2D video acceleration is enabled (Mac OS X hosts only)
3D support: miscellaneous fixes
Storage: fixed detection of CD/DVD media when switching from an empty to a host drive with passthrough enabled
Storage: fixed hang of the VM process when the disk is full under certain circumstances
NAT: listen for changes of NAT Network setting at runtime
NAT: NAT Network DHCP server now saves leases to a persistent storage
Main: monitor changes in host DNS configuration
Mac OS X host: reworked a mechanism of adding a VM desktop alias from the VM selector
Mac OS X installer: remove old kernel extensions during upgrade
Linux Additions: correctly set umask before installing
X11 Additions/3D: fix freezes starting 3D desktop
X11 Additions/3D: fix depth buffer support
X11 Additions/3D: fix Age Of Empires 3 rendering
Windows Additions/3D: fix Google Earth plugin rendering
Or install it from Virtualbox repository for Linux. Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run commands below one by one to add the repository: