Virtual Box is as full-powered a virtualization program as you’ll find today. What it’s missing are additional features, not basic functionality. You can also use the proprietary version, without charge for personal and educational use and to evaluate it for possible business purchase.

The free, but proprietary, edition gives you a built-in RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) server and USB port support. It also offers, to the best of my knowledge, the unique ability to use RDP to access remote USB devices from a local VM (virtual machine) and use local USB devices on a remote VM. It also supports the use of iSCSI network drives for use as virtual hard drives.

VirtualBox works on any PC with an x86 architecture. It also supports Intel’s VT-x and AMD’s AMD-V recently introduced hardware virtualization components. It does not, though, support either one by default. You must manually turn it on via the program’s control center.

VirtualBox supports all versions of Windows from Windows 98 on up as guest VMs. It also supports penBSD, OS/2 and some versions of Solaris. Generally speaking, all 2.4 and 2.6 Linux kernels work, although the company recommends 2.6.13 or above for better performance. There is one exception, though. Linuxes that use Linux kernels 2.6.18 to 2.6.18.2 contain a race condition that can cause VM boot.

Check out VirtualBox Downloads Options

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