VirtualBox 7.1.6 is out, the third maintenance release to the VirtualBox 7.1 stable series first released in September of last year.
Headline offering in this update is initial support for the recently released Linux kernel 6.13 in Linux Guest Additions, plus improved support for the Linux 6.4 kernel to fix graphics freezing when using VBoxVGA adapter, and Linux 6.12 fixes for vboxvideo.
Linux guest screens no longer flicker when using VMSVGA graphics adapters, Windows 11 24H2 guests no longer throw BSODs, and entering a custom proxy server in a guest OS’ settings will now take effect, which some will be relived to hear!
Elsewhere, Linux guests and hosts pick up further fixes for UBSAN related warnings, and the driver installation flow on Windows guests and hosts has been “reimplemented” – Oracle don’t provide any further details on that, though.
A glut of smaller GUI refinements also ship in VirtualBox 7.1.6, including:
- Better disabled preferences styling under certain Linux themes
- Fixed regression in preferences windows when filter editor is not in focus
- Assorted improvements to advanced properties/settings dialogs
- Functionality to change bridged adapter at VM startup restored
- Fixed 3D acceleration check-box now showing for certain guest OSes
- Help button shortcuts brought back
Beyond that, VirtualBox 7.1.6 allows the export/import of VMs which contain an NVMe storage controller, enable the graphics controller to be set to “QemuRamFB”, see a Windows Server 2025 OS type added, and support for the RHEL 6.2 kernel.
Refer to the official changelog to glean further details on the makeup of this (and previous) VirtualBox updates.
In all, VirtualBox 7.1.6 delivers a decent set of fixes and refinements. Nothing eye-catching or game-changing but certain to reduce friction and frustration when using this popular piece of open-source virtualisation tech.
Download VirtualBox
Virtualbox is free, open-source software for Windows, macOS, Linux and Solaris.
The latest version is, as you’d expect, available to download from the VirtualBox website for all supported operating systems in various package types (including source code).
Ubuntu, Linux Mint or another Ubuntu-based distribution user? You can download an official DEB package or opt for the distro-agnostic binary build.
Whichever one you choose be sure to grab the VirtualBox Extension Pack as it provides additional features and functionalities not present in the base VirtualBox build.