3 ms·

I use this as a general mess about VM, for installing stuff, trying stuff out etc that I don't want to on my main machine. They expire after a while but that's

by Neil44 3y ago

I use this as a general mess about VM, for installing stuff, trying stuff out etc that I don't want to on my main machine. They expire after a while but that's OK, they still work after expiry.

coreyh14444 3y ago
Windows already has the Windows Sandbox which is for exactly this purpose. You can spin it up in seconds, mess with it and when you close it, everything is gone.
- gchamonlive 3y ago
  Is it reliable? A VM is fully isolated, apart from maybe network and IO.
  - r1ch 3y ago
    It's Hyper-V under the hood.
    - gchamonlive 3y ago
      Curious to know which tradeoffs Microsoft chose to have sandbox boot this quickly
      - r1ch 3y ago
        It's actually restoring state from a snapshot so it doesn't need to fully boot. There's some great technical details at https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-os-platform-blog/windows-sandbox/ba-p/301849 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-os-platform-b...
- jkaplowitz 3y ago
  Neat to learn about that. Still, it’s a new feature with Windows 10 and requires that the host OS be a Pro or Enterprise edition of Windows 10 or 11 (and for Enterprise it also cares about the licensing). Hardware requirements also exist. The downloadable VMs don’t even require that your host OS be Windows or that you already have a Windows license, and they’ve been offered since long before Windows Sandbox existed.
- fodkodrasz 3y ago
  I tried to like windows Sandbox, but I think it would be a killer if it would be like docker/podman with a proper GUI and desktop: you could snapshot it (no need for branching, and stuff, just persist it), and continue your work in it later. Keeping VMs around and tending them is a nuisance, but I have some software i'd prefer to only use in an isolated persistent sandbox (crapware for industrial control stuff, for example). Having lots of VMs around for this is really cumbersome. It (Sandbox) worked okay for shady car repair handbook .ISO salvaged from the net for a long EOL'd unsupported model. Hope I'm not in a botnet... but I could find the repair instructions :D

by Neil44 3y ago

I use this as a general mess about VM, for installing stuff, trying stuff out etc that I don't want to on my main machine. They expire after a while but that's OK, they still work after expiry.

coreyh14444 3y ago

Windows already has the Windows Sandbox which is for exactly this purpose. You can spin it up in seconds, mess with it and when you close it, everything is gone.

gchamonlive 3y ago
Is it reliable? A VM is fully isolated, apart from maybe network and IO.
- r1ch 3y ago
  It's Hyper-V under the hood.
  - gchamonlive 3y ago
    Curious to know which tradeoffs Microsoft chose to have sandbox boot this quickly
    - r1ch 3y ago
      It's actually restoring state from a snapshot so it doesn't need to fully boot. There's some great technical details at https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-os-platform-blog/windows-sandbox/ba-p/301849 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-os-platform-b...
jkaplowitz 3y ago
Neat to learn about that. Still, it’s a new feature with Windows 10 and requires that the host OS be a Pro or Enterprise edition of Windows 10 or 11 (and for Enterprise it also cares about the licensing). Hardware requirements also exist. The downloadable VMs don’t even require that your host OS be Windows or that you already have a Windows license, and they’ve been offered since long before Windows Sandbox existed.
fodkodrasz 3y ago
I tried to like windows Sandbox, but I think it would be a killer if it would be like docker/podman with a proper GUI and desktop: you could snapshot it (no need for branching, and stuff, just persist it), and continue your work in it later. Keeping VMs around and tending them is a nuisance, but I have some software i'd prefer to only use in an isolated persistent sandbox (crapware for industrial control stuff, for example). Having lots of VMs around for this is really cumbersome. It (Sandbox) worked okay for shady car repair handbook .ISO salvaged from the net for a long EOL'd unsupported model. Hope I'm not in a botnet... but I could find the repair instructions :D