The first beta release of VirtualBox 3.1 is now available. You can download the binaries at http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/3.1.0_BETA1/

Version 3.1 will be a major update. The following major new features have been added:

• Migration of a VM session from one system to another (Teleportation)
• VM states can be restored from an arbitrary snaphot (Branched snapshots)
• New snapshots can be taken from other snapshots (allows for forking VMs)
• 2D video acceleration for Windows guests using the host video hardware for overlay stretching and colour conversion
• The network attachment type can be changed while a VM is running
• Experimental support for new USB features in OpenSolaris hosts (nv124 and later)
• Significant performance improvements for PAE and AMD64 guests (VT-x and AMD-V only; normal (non-nested) paging)
• Experimental support for EFI (Extended Firmware Interface)

A particularly nice new feature in the user interface is a red/green visual indicator on critical resource allocation controls.




These are relative to the capacity of the system and not what resources are currently free, but should prevent accidental overallocation of resources like CPU or memory.

Important: You should reinstall the guest additions after upgrading to the beta release.

If you experience problems after upgrading to the beta release (such as SMP Solaris getting upset with heavy network load) you can reinstall an older version of VirtualBox. Just remember to reinstall the guest additions after the downgrade.

If your VMs are in an Inaccessible state check the XML configuration files. In the details panel you should see something like

Could not load the settings file 'D:
\blah\.VirtualBox\Machines\Chapterhouse (Solaris 10)\Chapterhouse (Solaris 10).xml'

Element '{http://innotek.de/VirtualBox-settings}CpuIdTree': This element is not expected.
Result Code:          VBOX_E_XML_ERROR  (0x80BB000A)
Component:            VirtualBox
Interface:            IVirtualBox {3fab53a-199b-4526-a91a-93ff62e456b8}

Using the editor of your choice, open the XML file in the error message and remove the <CpuIdTree\> tag. Save the file and hit the refresh button in the VirtualBox window and you should be able to restart your VM.

Please refer to the VirtualBox 3.1 Beta 1 Changelog for a complete list of changes and enhancements. Please do not use this VirtualBox Beta release on production machines. A VirtualBox Beta release should be considered a bleeding-edge release meant for early evaluation and testing purposes. Please read the known issues before installing this beta release.

Please use our 'VirtualBox Beta Feedback' forum at http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewforum.php?f=15 to report any problems with the Beta.

Technocrati Tags: Sun Virtualization VirtualBox