Download VirtualBox 5.0

Oracle has released the final release of VirtualBox version 5.0. VirtualBox can be used to install other operating systems in a virtual environment on a computer. In this way it is possible to use different operating systems on the same hardware side by side and at the same time. VirtualBox is available for Windows XP and above, OS X, Linux, and Solaris, and is capable of many guest operating systems to turn.

Version 5.0 of VirtualBox includes support for para-virtualization under Windows and Linux, which should bring performance improvements. Furthermore, more instruction sets from modern processors are supported, there is drag&drop to and from virtual machines and disk images can now be encrypted. this page are found, these are briefly the main improvements in version 5.0:

Paravirtualization support for modern Windows and Linux guests
Oracle VM VirtualBox is able to expose a paravirtualization interface to facilitate accurate and efficient execution of software. Once the virtual machine platform is defined, Oracle VM VirtualBox improves guest OS performances by leveraging built-in virtualization support (KVM on Linux guests and Hyper-V on Windows guests).

xHCI controller to support USB 3.0 devices
Guest operating systems are now able to directly recognize USB 3.0 devices and operate at full 3.0 speeds. Guest can now be configured to use USB 1.1, 2.0 and 3.0 devices.

Improved Drag & Drop support
Starting from Oracle VM VirtualBox 5.0 we improved the support of a bi-directional drag&drop between guest and host operating system; drag and drop support is available with latest guest additions installed.

Disk image encryption
Oracle VM VirtualBox 5.0 allows for encrypted virtual disk images by leveraging AES algorithm in XTS mode (128-bit or 256-bit); since the DEK is stored as part of the virtual machine configuration file, encryption introduces a further security feature that will ask for a password while starting the virtual machine.

Headless and Detachable start options
Oracle VM VirtualBox now supports starting virtual machines in the background with a separate front-end process that can be closed while the virtual machine continues to work.

Further GUI improvements:

• VM guest-content scaling support (including 3D acceleration)
• New User Interface settings page for customizing status-bar, menu-bar and guest-content scaling
• New Encryption settings tab for customizing encryption options for disk images
• HiDPI support including application icons and optional unscaled HiDPI output on Mac OS X (including 3D acceleration)
• Hot plugging support for SATA disks
• Improved HID LEDs synchronization for Mac and Windows hosts
• Take the guest screen aspect ratio into account for the preview window
• Provide direct access to storage media in the VM selector