How to Enable Windows Sandbox Feature in Windows 10 Home Edition


Starting with Windows 10 build 18305, Microsoft introduced Windows Sandbox.

Windows Sandbox is a new lightweight desktop environment tailored for safely running applications in isolation.

How many times have you downloaded an executable file, but were afraid to run it? Have you ever been in a situation which required a clean installation of Windows, but didn’t want to set up a virtual machine?

At Microsoft, they regularly encounter these situations, so they developed Windows Sandbox: an isolated desktop environment where you can run untrusted software without the fear of lasting impact to your device. Any software installed in Windows Sandbox stays only in the sandbox and cannot affect your host. Once Windows Sandbox is closed, all the software with all of its files and state are permanently deleted.

When Windows Sandbox is enabled a read-only 8 GB PortableBaseLayer system partition without a drive letter is automatically created and should not be deleted. The PortableBaseLayer partition is automatically removed when Windows Sandbox is disabled.

Windows Sandbox has the following properties:

• Part of Windows – everything required for this feature ships with Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise. No need to download a VHD!
• Pristine – every time Windows Sandbox runs, it’s as clean as a brand-new installation of Windows
• Disposable – nothing persists on the device; everything is discarded after you close the application
• Secure – uses hardware-based virtualization for kernel isolation, which relies on the Microsoft Hypervisor to run a separate kernel which isolates Windows Sandbox from the host
• Efficient – uses integrated kernel scheduler, smart memory management, and virtual GPU

Prerequisites for using the feature

• Windows 10 build 18305 or higher
• AMD64 architecture (64-bit)
• Virtualization capabilities enabled in BIOS
• At least 4GB of RAM (8GB recommended)
• At least 1 GB of free disk space (SSD recommended)
• At least 2 CPU cores (4 cores with hyperthreading recommended)

This tutorial will show you how to install or uninstall the Windows Sandbox feature on a PC with Windows 10 Home edition installed.

You must be signed in as an administrator to enable Windows Sandbox.

If you have Controlled Folder Access turn on, you will need to temporarily turn it off until after you have finished enabling Windows Sandbox.

Many are reporting they are no longer able to enable Windows Sandbox in Windows 10 Home anymore using this method.

You're mileage may vary.

Contents

• Option One: To Install Windows Sandbox Feature in Windows 10 Home Edition
• Option Two: To Uninstall Windows Sandbox Feature in Windows 10 Home Edition

EXAMPLE: Windows Sandbox

OPTION ONE

To Install Windows Sandbox Feature in Windows 10 Home Edition

1 Click/tap on the Download button below to download the sandbox-installer.zip file created by Benny at Deskmodder.

Download

2 Save the sandbox-installer.zip file to your desktop.

3 Unblock the sandbox-installer.zip file.

4 Open the unblocked sandbox-installer.zip file, and extract (drag and drop) the Sandbox Installer.bat file to your desktop.

5 Run the Sandbox Installer.bat file.

Contents of .bat file:

Code:

@echo off

echo Checking for permissions
>nul 2>&1 "%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\cacls.exe" "%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\config\system"

echo Permission check result: %errorlevel%

REM --> If error flag set, we do not have admin.
if '%errorlevel%' NEQ '0' (
echo Requesting administrative privileges...
goto UACPrompt
) else ( goto gotAdmin )

:UACPrompt
echo Set UAC = CreateObject^("Shell.Application"^) > "%temp%\getadmin.vbs"
echo UAC.ShellExecute "%~s0", "", "", "runas", 1 >> "%temp%\getadmin.vbs"

echo Running created temporary "%temp%\getadmin.vbs"
timeout /T 2
"%temp%\getadmin.vbs"
exit /B

:gotAdmin
if exist "%temp%\getadmin.vbs" ( del "%temp%\getadmin.vbs" )
pushd "%CD%"
CD /D "%~dp0" 

echo Batch was successfully started with admin privileges
echo .
cls
Title Sandbox Installer

pushd "%~dp0"

dir /b %SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\*Containers*.mum >sandbox.txt

for /f %%i in ('findstr /i . sandbox.txt 2^>nul') do dism /online /norestart /add-package:"%SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\%%i"

del sandbox.txt

Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Containers-DisposableClientVM /LimitAccess /ALL

pause

6 Click/tap on Yes when prompted by UAC.

7 A command prompt window will now open to install the Windows Sandbox feature on your Windows 10 Home PC. When finished, type Y when prompted, and press Enter to restart the computer to apply. (see screenshot below)

Be sure to save and close everything before typing Y and pressing Enter to restart the computer.

8 After your computer has finished restarting, you will now be able to enable and disable Windows Sandbox (click on link) as you like on your Windows 10 Home edition computer.

OPTION TWO

To Uninstall Windows Sandbox Feature in Windows 10 Home Edition

1 Do step 2 (Windows Features), step 3 (command prompt), or step 4 (BATfile) below for how you would like to uninstall Windows Sandbox.

 2. To Uninstall Windows Sandbox Feature in Command Prompt

A) Press the Win+R keys to open run, type OptionalFeatures.exe into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Windows Features.

B) Uncheck Windows Sandbox, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

C) When ready, click/tap on Restart now to restart the computer to apply. (see screenshot below)

 3. To Uninstall Windows Sandbox Feature in Command Prompt

A) Open an elevated command prompt.

B) Copy and paste the command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter.

Dism /online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:"Containers-DisposableClientVM"

C) When prompted to restart the computer, type Y when ready to do so.

Be sure to save and close everything before you restart the computer.

 4. To Uninstall Windows Sandbox Feature using a BAT file

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the sandbox-uninstaller.zip file created by Ben at Deskmodder.

Download

B) Save the sandbox-uninstaller.zip file to your desktop.

C) Unblock the sandbox-installer.zip file.

D) Open the unblocked sandbox-uninstaller.zip file, and extract (drag and drop) the Sandbox UnInstaller.bat file to your desktop.

E) Run the Sandbox UnInstaller.bat file.

Contents of .bat file:

Code:

@echo off

echo Checking for permissions
>nul 2>&1 "%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\cacls.exe" "%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\config\system"

echo Permission check result: %errorlevel%

REM --> If error flag set, we do not have admin.
if '%errorlevel%' NEQ '0' (
echo Requesting administrative privileges...
goto UACPrompt
) else ( goto gotAdmin )

:UACPrompt
echo Set UAC = CreateObject^("Shell.Application"^) > "%temp%\getadmin.vbs"
echo UAC.ShellExecute "%~s0", "", "", "runas", 1 >> "%temp%\getadmin.vbs"

echo Running created temporary "%temp%\getadmin.vbs"
timeout /T 2
"%temp%\getadmin.vbs"
exit /B

:gotAdmin
if exist "%temp%\getadmin.vbs" ( del "%temp%\getadmin.vbs" )
pushd "%CD%"
CD /D "%~dp0" 

echo Batch was successfully started with admin privileges
echo .
cls
Title Sandbox Installer

pushd "%~dp0"

Dism /online /disable-feature /featurename:Containers-DisposableClientVM

dir /b %SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\*Containers*.mum >sandbox.txt

for /f %%i in ('findstr /i . sandbox.txt 2^>nul') do dism /online /norestart /remove-package:"%SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\%%i"

del sandbox.txt


pause

F) Click/tap on Yes when prompted by UAC.

G) A command prompt window will now open to uninstall the Windows Sandbox feature on your Windows 10 Home PC. When finished, type Y when prompted, and press Enter to restart the computer to apply. (see screenshot below)

Be sure to save and close everything before you restart the computer.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Enable or Disable Windows Sandbox in Windows 10
• How to configure Windows Sandbox with custom theme and preinstalled software in Windows 10

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