How to upgrade v7.0.8 to v7.0.14 ?

[Arius]

I would like to upgrade Virtualbox from v7.0.8 to v7.0.14 on my Linux Mint 21.3 Cinnamon host.
Should I run the upgrade on top of the installed v7.0.8 or uninstall it before upgrading?
And will the uninstall or install delete or change any VMs in the VirtualBox VMs folder?

I will create a timeshift backup of the current config before doing anything.

[multiOS]

Providing both versions (7.08 and 7.014) were downloaded through Oracle's official download page - https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads , then you should be fine simply running the 7.0.14 installer perform the upgrade. If you have installed the VirtualBox Extension Pack, make sure you also upgrade that at the same time as the versions must match. When you restart your VMs, you should also see a pop-reminder to upgrade any Guest Additions installations.

The thing to avoid is 'mixing' the installation of any VirtualBox downloads from your Linux Distribution's Repository with the 'official' Oracle distribution as the build processes used by the Linux Distributions can result in conflicts when they are 'mixed'. It's best to purge an existing VirtualBox installation if switching from one source Repository to the other.

Upgrading and or uninstalling (purging in Linux Speak) the VirtualBox installation should not affect any installed VM's as they are stored data files, not a part of the program installation, but it's always best practice to protect your VM installations by making regular external backups of the VM Folders when all VMs are shut down.

[arQon]

To be slightly nitpicky: purging has a specific meaning in apt, which is the removal of *configuration* files in addition to the program itself.
(Generally not something you want to do as part of an upgrade, obv, whereas simply uninstalling and (re)installing would be non-destructive).

[Arius]

Thanks all. The upgrade on top of 7.0.8 to 7.0.14 went well and all VM guest additions have been updated.