Enlarge / Unsurprisingly, getting a standard amd64-based Linux image installed as a virtual machine on an ARM-based Mac results in sadness. (credit: Kevin Purdy)
Nearly four years after its last major release, VirtualBox 7.0 arrives with a… host of new features. Chief among them are Windows 11 support via TPM, EFI Secure Boot support, full encryption for virtual machines, and a few Linux niceties.
The big news is support for Secure Boot and TPM 1.2 and 2.0, which makes it easier to install Windows 11 without registry hacks (the kind Oracle recommended for 6.1 users). It’s strange to think about people unable to satisfy Windows 11’s security requirements on their physical hardware, but doing so with a couple clicks in VirtualBox, but here we are.
TPM and Secure Boot options in VirtualBox 7.0 make it easier to install Windows 11 guests. (credit: Kevin Purdy)
VirtualBox 7.0 also allows virtual machines to run with full encryption, not just inside the guest OS—but logs, saved states, and other files connected to the VM. At the moment, this support only works through the command line, “for now,” Oracle notes in the changelog.
