virtualbox.org

Greetings awesome people!

I see that it says software virtualization is not available on 6.1 and to use 6.0. So I'm guessing 6.1 uses "hardware virtualization".

I'm quite a newbie to computer knowledge, could someone explain which is best or the key differences?

Thanks!

Modern computers have "virtualization technology": Intel's VT-x, or AMD's AMD-V or SVM, enabled in the computer's BIOS, that help the computer run virtual machines more efficiently. With this hardware-based virtualization technology, multi-processor and 64-bit VMs could be run on a multi-core 64-bit host PC.

Older computers did not have this capability. So some virtualizers, like Virtualbox, had a software method to "fake" the the ability to run virtual machines, with certain limitations: only one processor in the VM, only 32-bit VMs.

Up to 6.0.x, Virtualbox contained the 'fake-it' code, so non-virtualization-technology computers could run limited VMs. Starting in 6.1.x, the 'fake-it' code has been removed, so real hardware-based virtualization technology in the computer is required to run VMs.

Whether to use 6.0.x or 6.1.x depends on whether tour PC has hardware-based virtualization technology. 6.0.x will run on either computer type. 6.1.x will not ru on computers with no virtualization technology.

You should be using 6.1. Sticking to an old version of any software is not going to be viable solution in the long term.

HeadAche1 wrote:So I'm guessing 6.1 uses "hardware virtualization".

It's very unlikely that you have a PC that's so old that it doesn't support hardware accelerated virtualization, i.e. VT-x or AMD-v. I've been using VirtualBox since 2008, and even the PC I was using back then had it, though of course it needed to be enabled in the host BIOS.

Have a read of FAQ: I have a 64bit host, but can't install 64bit guests.

Ah okay, so I am good to go with 6.1. I had thought that 6.1 was no good for virtualization anymore until I googled how it was hardware virtualization.

I use this on quad core ssd AMD 2018 machine. It's still a pretty fast machine.