In a sense, a sandbox is a container placed around an application running within Windows. Windows manages access to the files and on-disk resources it also manages access to the hardware through the device drivers that are installed for your machine’s specific hardware configuration. Windows: a conceptual diagram.Īpplications running in Windows interact with the machine (and with you) through Windows. Let’s start with a conceptual view on how Windows and Windows applications operate (at a very high level). This is a high-level overview meant to convey the concepts for a basic understanding, nothing more. I’m not trying to define exactly how these technologies work at a bits-and-bytes level. Let’s look at the three scenarios: the default case without either, a sandbox, and a virtual machine.įirst, a caveat for the knowledgeable: this is, of necessity, an over-simplification. That would be an accurate statement, but it really only stirs up the mud in what is already muddy water. One could confuse matters further by referring to a virtual machine as the ultimate sandbox.

If you need 3D acceleration MS have deprecated the RemoteFX adapter, so if this is a requirement you may be back to VirtualBox or (not in your list) VMware Workstation Pro.Sandboxes and virtual machines are two different technologies that share enough characteristics to make them easily confused. I have used both, with Hyper-V hosting a 'work' VM that might have possibly instrusive software and sandbox if I am testing a once off. If persistence is required then Hyper-V is the way to go.

Not only does this mean you cannot forget to (for instance) rollback a checkpoint after installing a bad package, it also means you will reduce any environment conflicts or misconfigurations when testing the software. The reason is that Sandbox by its very nature is a fresh image at each activation which is deleted upon closure. However (and the reason for my answer) is that I wouldn't suggest looking at Windows Sandbox and Hyper-V as mutually exclusive. They also offer Hyper-V Server for free so you could make a dedicated hypervisor which uses minimal resources (no GUI for instance). Like others have said, I would pick Hyper-V out of the options as it is a Type 1 hyperviser with alot of support from Microsoft.

Virtual 8x sandbox