VirtualBox 3.0.8

VirtualBox 3.0.8 (released 2009-10-06)

This is a maintenance release. The following items were fixed and/or added:

• VMM: fixed 64 bits guest on 32 bits host regression in 3.0.6 (VT-x only; bug #4947)
• VMM: fixed a recompiler triple fault guru meditation (VT-x & AMD-V only; bug #5058)
• VMM: fixed hang after guest state restore (AMD-V, 32 bits Windows guest and IO-APIC enabled only; bug #5059)
• VMM: fixed paging issue with OS/2 guests
• VMM: fixed guru meditation in rare cases (2.0 regression; software virtualization only)
• VMM: fixed release assertion during state restore when using the Sound Blaster 16 emulation (bug #5042)
• Security: fixed vulnerability that allowed to execute commands with root privileges
• Linux hosts: fixed runtime assertion in semaphore implementation which was triggered under certain conditions (bug #616)
• Linux hosts: change the default USB access mode on certain distributions (bugs #3394 and #4291)
• Linux hosts: on hardened Gentoo, the VBoxSVC daemon crashed by opening the VM network settings (bug #3732)
• Linux hosts, Solaris hosts: pass the XAUTHORITY variable along the DISPLAY variable when starting a VM from VBoxManage or from the VM selector (bug #5063)
• Linux hosts: use sysfs to enumerate host drives if hal is not available
• Solaris hosts: fixed a bug which would hang the host sporadically as interrupts were not re-enabled everytime
• Solaris hosts: fixed a kernel panic with bridged and host-only networking (bug #4775)
• Solaris hosts: fixed incorrectly persistent CD/DVD-ROMs when changing them (bug #5077)
• X11-based hosts: support additional function keys on Sun keyboards (bug #4907)
• Mac OS X hosts (Snow Leopard): fixed problem starting headless VMs without a graphical session (bug #5002)
• Mac OS X hosts: fixed problem listing host-only adapter names with trailing garbage (attached VMs won't start)
• Windows Additions: now work with Vista 64-bit Home editions (bug #3865)
• Windows Additions: fixed screen corruption with ZoomText Magnifier
• Windows Additions: fixed NPGetUniversalName failure (bug #4853)
• Windows Additions: fixed Windows NT regression (bug #4946)
• Windows Additions: fixed VBoxService not running if no Shared Folders are installed
• Linux Additions: implemented ftrunctate (bug #4771)
• VRDP: start VM even if configured VRDP port is in use
• Networking: the PCnet network device stopped receiving under rare conditions (bug #4870)
• VBoxManage: implemented controlvm vrdpport command
• iSCSI: fixed issue with NetApp targets (#5072)
• SCSI: add support for virtual disks larger than 2TB
• USB: fixed potential crash when unplugging USB2 devices (bug #5089)
• NAT: IPSEC did not properly work with Linux guests (bug #4801)

VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware. Targeted at server, desktop and embedded use, it is now the only professional-quality virtualization solution that is also Open Source Software.

Some of the features of VirtualBox are:

Modularity. VirtualBox has an extremely modular design with well-defined internal programming interfaces and a client/server design. This makes it easy to control it from several interfaces at once: for example, you can start a virtual machine in a typical virtual machine GUI and then control that machine from the command line, or possibly remotely. VirtualBox also comes with a full Software Development Kit: even though it is Open Source Software, you don't have to hack the source to write a new interface for VirtualBox.
Virtual machine descriptions in XML. The configuration settings of virtual machines are stored entirely in XML and are independent of the local machines. Virtual machine definitions can therefore easily be ported to other computers.
Guest Additions for Windows and Linux. VirtualBox has special software that can be installed inside Windows and Linux virtual machines to improve performance and make integration much more seamless. Among the features provided by these Guest Additions are mouse pointer integration and arbitrary screen solutions (e.g. by resizing the guest window).
Shared folders. Like many other virtualization solutions, for easy data exchange between hosts and guests, VirtualBox allows for declaring certain host directories as "shared folders", which can then be accessed from within virtual machines.
A number of extra features are available with the full VirtualBox release only (see the "Editions" page for details):

Virtual USB Controllers. VirtualBox implements a virtual USB controller and allows you to connect arbitrary USB devices to your virtual machines without having to install device specific drivers on the host.
Remote Desktop Protocol. Unlike any other virtualization software, VirtualBox fully supports the standard Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). A virtual machine can act as an RDP server, allowing you to "run" the virtual machine remotely on some thin client that merely displays the RDP data.

USB over RDP. With this unique feature, a virtual machine that acts as an RDP server can still access arbitrary USB devices that are connected on the RDP client. This way, a powerful server machine can virtualize a lot of thin clients that merely need to display RDP data and have USB devices plugged in.

www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

 

i just installed it and it runs just awesome. . Actually its a bit premature considering that xp is still getting installed in the virtual drive that has been created. Everything is so easy. . Will let know if I succeed in the virtual down gradation of vista. I am using my dell studio xps 1340 though. Wonder if its drivers are available !