I've been using the vbox version of Boinc for ages and I have been unable to find a vbox version for the just released stable version (8.24). Is there a vbox version and, if so, where can I get it? Alternatively, if I upgrade to the non-vbox Boinc 6.24 will that remove the vbox install that is currently on my pc (Win10 pro) thanks to having previously installed Boinc with vbox?

The issue for me is that I use the vbox that comes with Boinc to run my own VM since it was already on my pc thanks to Boinc.

We are moving away from VirtualBox to Docker/Podman support and see this as a better alternative to VirtualBox.
More important, Docker/Podman require WSL to run on that is (because WSL internally uses Hyper-V) incompatible with the VirtualBox (basically, you still have a chance running VirtualBox with WSL enabled but it will be running in software virtualization emulation and thus will be extremely slow).
For that reason we don't build and provide installers for Windows with VirtualBox.
IIRC, current installer doesn't remove any VirtualBox installed, so you can safely upgrade.

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BOINC maintainer.
For any insight, check my BOINC Development Blog.

Thanks. Upgrade is fine then as far as not removing the existing vbox, even if it was installed as part of Boinc.

Your answer does however raise a potential issue - you said that Boinc now uses WSL which incorporates Hyper-V. Unless one does some seriously deep fiddling with the Bios, Hyper-V & Vbox do not play well together. My admittedly limited understanding is that you can't run vbox & hyper-V on the same windows pc without that bios fiddling and even then it comes with risks. I use vbox for my own VM because hyper-V refused to run as it detected vbox was already running (with boinc) and I'm disinclined to make any bios changes that I don't understand and the required changes are well above my knowhow.

I'm guessing that the vbox and hyper-v incompatibility means without a lot of fiddling, I wont be able to run any clients that require a VM .. if so, I can live with that.

I'm also guessing that the version of Boinc that supports Docker/podman is the larger file available from github with pdb in the filename?

(because WSL internally uses Hyper-V)

Yet Hyper-V doesn't need to be enabled in Windows features for it to work (It's not enabled on any of my systems and i've got Podman setup on all 3).

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Grant
Darwin NT.

No, BOINC doesn't require Docker to run. It's optional (similar to VirtualBox). And it's not BOINC client that uses it, it can just detect it, and when detected, it will download tasks that require Docker to be present. Then it will use it.
Again, similar to VirtualBox.

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BOINC maintainer.
For any insight, check my BOINC Development Blog.

Boinc's instructions on installing Docker have the note:

"Docker and VirtualBox are incompatible on Windows. If you're using VirtualBox for something other than BOINC, do not install Docker."

That answers at least one of my questions and also means I'll only be able to run clients that don't require docker.

Is there any way of finding what clients require docker? I run 6 clients, 3 of which have running tasks, the other 3 only occasionally come out with WUs. After upgrading I've gotten no messages or errors about Docker being missing, which may mean the other 3 don't require it?

Currently running: Einstein, Milkyway & Rosetta, all with active tasks.
No current tasks: Climateprediction, gpugrid & World Community Grid.

Is there any way of finding what clients require docker?

The project's web site will tell you the requirement to run their applications (somewhere, hopefully).

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Grant
Darwin NT.

That'd be nice .. if any of them did. The only reference I could find to those clients & docker was a brief comment in the rosetta community forum that there was some discussion @ rosetta they may in the future maybe include some WUs that can use docker.

Most likely just as in the past some (but not all) projects used vbox for some (or all) of their WUs, the same will be true for docker. I'll just have to pick those projects have WUs that don't need docker .. all once the dust has settled.

At the moment there are two projects that have Docker tasks: BOINC Central and LHC@Home-Dev

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BOINC maintainer.
For any insight, check my BOINC Development Blog.