The first major release since being acquired by Sun Microsystems is now available. Version 1.6 has new Mac and Solaris host platform support, new high performance virtual devices, improved scalability and Web Services.

VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

This version is a major update. The following major new features were added:

• Solaris and Mac OS X host support
• Seamless windowing for Linux and Solaris guests
• Guest Additions for Solaris
• A webservice API
• SATA hard disk (AHCI) controller
• Experimental Physical Address Extension (PAE) support

In addition, the following items were fixed and/or added:

• GUI: added accessibility support (508)
• GUI: VM session information dialog
• VBoxHeadless: renamed from VBoxVRDP
• VMM: reduced host CPU load of idle guests
• VMM: many fixes for VT-x/SVM hardware-supported virtualization
• ATA/IDE: better disk geometry compatibility with VMware images
• ATA/IDE: virtualize an AHCI controller
• Storage: better write optimization, prevent images from growing unnecessarily.
• Network: support PXE booting with NAT
• Network: fixed the Am79C973 PCNet emulation for Nexenta guests
• NAT: improved builtin DHCP server (implemented DHCPNAK response)
• NAT: port forwarding stopped when restoring the VM from a saved state
• NAT: make subnet configurable
• XPCOM: moved to libxml2
• XPCOM: fixed VBoxSVC autostart race
• Audio: SoundBlaster 16 emulation
• USB: fixed problems with USB 2.0 devices
• MacOS X: fixed seamless mode
• MacOS X: better desktop integration, several look’n’feel fixes
• MacOS X: switched to Quartz2D framebuffer
• MacOS X: added support for shared folders
• MacOS X: added support for clipboard integration
• Solaris: added host audio playback support (experimental)
• Solaris: made it possible to run VirtualBox from non-global zones
• Shared Folders: made them work for NT4 guests
• Shared Folders: many bugfixes to improve stability
• Seamless windows: added support for Linux guests
• Linux installer: support DKMS for compiling the kernel module
• Linux host: compatibility fixes with Linux 2.6.25
• Windows host: support for USB devices has been significantly improved; many additional USB devices now work
• Windows Additions: automatically install AMD PCNet drivers on Vista guests
• Linux additions: several fixes, experimental support for RandR 1.2
• Linux additions: compatibility fixes with Linux 2.6.25

VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 has been released and has many new and exciting features.

VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 brings support for multiple displays, tools for even easier switching to VMware Fusion, experimental support for DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2 3D acceleration, and more!

When released, VMware Fusion 2.0 will be a free downloadable upgrade for all VMware Fusion 1.x users, as a sincere thank you to VMware Fusion early adopters.

VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 is available as a free download.

Please note: Beta software can be prone to instability and bugs. Do not run beta software in mission-critical environments.

Key Features of VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1

Over the past months, we’ve listened to what our users say they already love, and what they want more of. These features are the results of that feedback, and are the first of many more to come.

True Multiple Display Support

• Use up to 10 displays with VMware Fusion
• VMware Fusion automatically detects multiple displays by default
• Each display shows up as separate distinct “logical” display in Windows VMs—not a single very large display
• Handles changes to resolution and display orientation automatically. Rotated displays show up rotated in the virtual machine
• Option to use one or all displays in Full Screen mode
• Unity windows can now be dragged between displays, and will maximize correctly to just the display they're on
• Correctly handles plugging & unplugging display
• 3D supported on primary display

DirectX 9.0 with Shader Model 2 graphics

VMware was the first to add 3D graphics to virtual machines and now takes 3D in a virtual machine to the next level with support for DirectX 9.0 with Shader Model 2 graphics.

For best 3D performance, users with virtual machines not created with VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 need to do two things:

• Shut down your virtual machine and go to the Virtual Machine menu and select “Upgrade Virtual Machine.”
• On boot up, install the latest VMware Tools and restart the virtual machine.

DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2 3D support is experimental in the Beta, and performance may vary dramatically based on hardware and 3D application. In the beta stage, some 3D applications that worked under VMware Fusion 1.x may experience performance degradations.

Virtual Printing

• Virtual machines automatically detect and map your default Mac printer and all configured Mac printers

New Virtual Machine Library

• Screenshot of last and active states for each virtual machine in Library
• You can now move old and unused virtual machines to the Trash directly from the Library
• Show virtual machine in Finder
• Menus now act on whichever virtual machine is selected in the Library window
• Default virtual machine launches when VMware Fusion does
• On launch, virtual machines now default to view (Unity, Single Window, Full Screen) they had before suspend/shut down

New Settings Editor

• Provides quick overview of all virtual machine settings
• Works just like System Preferences
• Works in Unity, Full Screen, and Single Window views
• Add existing virtual hard drives to virtual machines and even optionally copy them into the virtual machine bundle
• Simplified Shared Folders interface

Shared Folders Improvements

• Simplified Shared Folders setup in the new Settings Editor
• Shared Folders are easier to discover. New Shared Folders option in Status bar and Virtual Machine menu. Can open all Shared Folders or just a specific Shared Folder in the virtual machine
• Support for Home folder (~) shortcut for Shared Folders in VMX settings file
• Improved compatibility with Windows applications including QuickBooks and Visual Studio
• Improved compatibility running Java applications from a Shared Folder

Integrated VMware Importer and VMware Converter (P2V)

• Just choose File>Import to import your Parallels Desktop and Virtual PC for Mac virtual machines to run with VMware Fusion
• Import your Boot Camp partition to a true virtual machine and take advantage of suspend/resume, snapshots, and virtual machine mobility

USB Improvements

• Allow USB mice/tablets in a virtual machine without custom configuration
• Faster USB Storage performance
• USB devices are recognized by type in the Status bar
• Improved USB robustness

Networking Improvements

• Virtual machines in Bridged networking mode now know when your Mac's network connection is available or becomes unavailable, and will refresh their network address automatically
• DNS and WINS server pass-through with NAT networking
• Browse for Bonjour printers with NAT networking
• Improved performance when using NAT networking
• Manual option to override the MAC address to any MAC address in VMX settings file, previously limited to VMware-specific MAC addresses
• Automatically obtain a new DHCP lease when switching between NAT/Bridged networking
• Windows guests now able to join Active Directory domain with NAT networking if WINS is enabled on Mac OS X
• Improved compatibility with wireless bridged networking and certain DHCP/routers (also included with VMware Fusion 1.1.2)

Unity Improvements

• Virtual machines can resume and start directly in Unity view
• Unity windows can now be dragged into additional displays
• Quit Windows applications from the Dock icon
• Unity windows now respect the Dock location and won't maximize underneath the Dock
• Exposé now filters out non-application windows
• Virtual machine desktop background no longer displayed on Windows apps minimized to the Dock
• Drag and Drop to overlapped Unity windows now works
• Cursor not hidden while typing in Unity view
• Handle Unity windows without titles better
• Improved window filtering for Unity view

Full Screen Improvements

• Virtual machines can resume and start directly in Full Screen view
• Full Screen can use one or all monitors on the Mac
• Notification sheets are replaced by standalone dialogs
• Support super large displays that are over 2048 (MacBook and MacBook Air) or 4096 (iMac, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro) pixels wide

Mouse and Keyboard Improvements

• Support advanced USB input devices like graphics tablets
• Support for more than three buttons in the Windows guests…
• Gaming mouse mode: When the OS no longers draws the cursor, VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 prevents automatic mouse release along the edges of the virtual machine