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Oracle VirtualBox brings Apple Silicon Mac support in version 7.0 beta

Avatar for Filipe Espósito  | Oct 14 2022 - 1:05 pm PT
8 Comments
Oracle VirtualBox updated to version 7.0 with beta support for Apple Silicon Macs

VirtualBox is a popular free software program owned by Oracle that lets users run virtual machines on Windows, macOS, and Linux. This week, Oracle released VirtualBox 7.0, which not only brings multiple new features and enhancements but also adds beta support for Apple Silicon Macs for the first time.

VirtualBox now works with M1 and M2 Macs

When the first Apple Silicon Macs were announced in 2020, running virtual machines on them wasn’t exactly an easy task – especially when it came to Windows virtual machines. Thankfully, major macOS virtual machine programs have already been updated to work with the latest Macs, and now VirtualBox is part of that list.

Top comment by Trim Cock

Liked by 11 people
From the official forums of VirtualBox: "In a way the ARM64 package "slipped out", and it's not expected to work reliably. The implementation isn't complete yet (which is what you saw), and in top of that the performance is known to be extremely low. It isn't anywhere near production ready, we know. This will not change for VirtualBox 7, and the "Technology Preview" marker will stay for the foreseeable future, indicating that it won't be supported at all. At best you'll get some really old 32-bit Linux to run to some degree, such as DSL 4.4.10. No chance even with Ubuntu 16.04 i386." So this article is yet another misleading exaggeration and should be taken with a ton of salt. "With VirtualBox 7.0, users can finally create and run virtual machines on a Mac equipped with an Apple Silicon chip, which includes the M1 and M2 chips." is more than an overstatement. I have given the "slipped out" version a shot and it doesn't work; not even with older linux versions. People should temper their expectations; especially that the guys at Oracle stated their disinterest to supporting Apple Silicon on a few occasions already.
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With VirtualBox 7.0, users can finally create and run virtual machines on a Mac equipped with an Apple Silicon chip, which includes the M1 and M2 chips. However, as noted by Oracle in the official release notes for the update, this is still a beta feature under development. In other words, it may not work as expected for now.

The latest VirtualBox update also brings some other important enhancements. For instance, virtual machines can now be fully encrypted and cloud virtual machines can be managed as local machines. It also adds DirectX 11 support for better 3D graphics on Windows and drops support for old kernel extensions on macOS in favor of more modern APIs.

A huge list of bugs has also been fixed with the 7.0 update. Oracle says the new version also makes the cloud network functionality more reliable for local virtual machines. Users can download VirtualBox 7.0 on the platform’s official website. If you have a Mac with an M1 or M2 chip, be sure to download the Developer Preview for Arm64 Macs.

It’s worth noting that there are other alternatives for running virtual machines on macOS, such as the well-known Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion.

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Avatar for Filipe Espósito Filipe Espósito

Filipe Espósito is a Brazilian tech Journalist who started covering Apple news on iHelp BR with some exclusive scoops — including the reveal of the new Apple Watch Series 5 models in titanium and ceramic. He joined 9to5Mac to share even more tech news around the world.