VirtualBox
Open-source x86 virtualization application / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Oracle VM VirtualBox (formerly Sun VirtualBox, Sun xVM VirtualBox and InnoTek VirtualBox) is a hosted hypervisor for x86 virtualization developed by Oracle Corporation. VirtualBox was originally created by InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH, which was acquired by Sun Microsystems in 2008, which was in turn acquired by Oracle in 2010.
Original author(s) | InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH |
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Developer(s) | Oracle Corporation |
Initial release | 17 January 2007; 17 years ago (2007-01-17) |
Stable release | |
Repository | |
Written in | C, C++, x86 Assembly, Python |
Operating system | Windows, macOS (only Intel-based Macs), Linux and Solaris[2] |
Platform | x86-64 only (version series 5.x and earlier work on IA-32)[3] |
Type | Hypervisor |
License |
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Website | www |
VirtualBox may be installed on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Solaris and OpenSolaris. There are also ports to FreeBSD[5] and Genode.[6] It supports the creation and management of guest virtual machines running Windows, Linux, BSD, OS/2, Solaris, Haiku, and OSx86,[7] as well as limited virtualization of macOS guests on Apple hardware.[8][9] For some guest operating systems, a "Guest Additions" package of device drivers and system applications is available,[10][11] which typically improves performance, especially that of graphics, and allows changing the resolution of the guest OS automatically when the window of the virtual machine on the host OS is resized.
Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License and, optionally, the CDDL for most files of the source distribution, VirtualBox is free and open-source software, though the Extension Pack is proprietary software, free of charge only to personal users. The License to VirtualBox was relicensed to GPLv3 with linking exceptions to the CDDL and other GPL-incompatible licenses.[12]