Windows Sandbox coming to Windows Insiders in Windows 10 build 18305 Insider

kado897 · 22 Dec 2018

g41851 said:

I have to say that I'm very impressed with how much Microsoft give you built-in to Windows 10. I'm looking forward to being able to use this feature myself - I'm not on the Insiders scheme, so I guess the rest of us will see it sometime in the New Year.

Will probably be released in April 2019 but not everything that is released to Insiders makes it to the final build.

rseiler · 22 Dec 2018

kado897 said:

FYI. After some experimentation this morning as expected I have been unable to install the sandbox feature in a VirtualBox VM. It complains that virtualisation is not enabled.

Rather than that, what about host coexistence, which would be much more useful? That is, using VB6's supposed (i.e. experimental) Hyper-V support to be able to use Sandbox and VB6 at will without disabling one first.

I can't test that, since I have one of those machines, as many do, where Sandbox just inexplicably doesn't run (virtualization enabled, etc etc), some bug that they'll no doubt get to next month.

Kari · 25 Dec 2018

To run Sandbox on a Hyper-V virtual machine, nested virtualization must be enabled. Quote from TenForums video thread:

Kari said:

New video: Hyper-V - Enable Nested Virtualization.

Nested virtualization allows running Hyper-V on a virtual machine. In addition, it allows Windows Sandbox (available in build 18305 and later) to be run on a virtual machine, which in its turn allows saving snapshots of Sandbox using Hyper-V Standard Chekpoints. Simply setup Sandbox on a Hyper-V VM, and when you need to save Sandbox current state, create a checkpoint for the VM.

This video shows how to setup nested virtualization on a VM in just a minute.

You can download the simple PowerShell script used in video here:

Download

Unblock the script before running it (tutorial)!

Notice that Hyper-V and Windows Sandbox are not available in Windows 10 Home edition.

Read more: Nested Virtualization | Microsoft Docs

Kari

Wynona · 25 Dec 2018

Kari said:

To run Sandbox on a Hyper-V virtual machine, nested virtualization must be enabled. Quote from TenForums video thread:

That does it for me. I have an AMD machine.

Kari · 25 Dec 2018

Wynona said:

That does it for me. I have an AMD machine.

Wynona, Sandbox can be run on AMD machines, too. It's just that if you want to run Sandbox on a Hyper-V virtual machine instead of the real physical PC, the VM must have nested virtualization enabled which is not possible on AMD.

In other words, you can run Windows Sandbox on your physical, real PC with an AMD CPU, but you cannot run it on that PC on a virtual machine.

Kari

cereberus · 26 Dec 2018

One thing that is different between sandbox and a VM is that a VM requires a separate licence to run in activated mode.

slicendice · 26 Dec 2018

Kari said:

Wynona, Sandbox can be run on AMD machines, too. It's just that if you want to run Sandbox on a Hyper-V virtual machine instead of the real physical PC, the VM must have nested virtualization enabled which is not possible on AMD.

In other words, you can run Windows Sandbox on your physical, real PC with an AMD CPU, but you cannot run it on that PC on a virtual machine.

Kari

Yep, MS has to put their act together. AMD is perfectly capable of nested virtualization, but Microsoft does not currently support this.

Rather than focusing so hard on blurred login screen and other irrelevant nonsense, nested virtualization on AMD-v should have been one of the top priorities.

jimbo45 · 26 Dec 2018

Hi there.

Hope people had good Xmas yesterday.

As well as concentrating on concurrent / nested virtualisation Ms should also get proper useful things for the sandbox -- often you need to test software - and this means sometimes being able to re-boot after install -- some software requires a reboot after install. The other issue of course is being able to define size and placement of the sandbox and also possibility of saving its state at the end of a session.

I know at least the boot feature is being addressed by Ms but surely shouldn't this have been part of the initial design -- other parts of windows features seem just cosmetic -- who cares what the login screen looks like - once you are logged in then what does it matter.

Cheers
jimbo

Rocky · 26 Dec 2018

I am looking forward to trying this feature but since that last update I have been unable to try it.

jimbo45 · 26 Dec 2018

Rocky said:

I am looking forward to trying this feature but since that last update I have been unable to try it.

@Rocky

Back up your system say with Macrium, now download latest iso from UUPDUMP or similar and clean install Windows -- it will activate via digital license --you don't need to register in fast / slow etc insider preview rings. Enable the sandbox and just see if it works.

Simply restore your previous system any time you want to logon to that one. Alternatively if you have a spare HDD iin your machine just install clean windows on that HDD and then you can dual boot -- choose via BIOS what HDD you want to boot from.

A lot of people test on laptops which don't normally have more than one HDD so dual booting isn't really an option for these -- a macrium backup / restore won't take long.

BTW one used to be able to load a bootable Windows (a real windows not an install or WINPE system) on to a bootable external HDD -- this is fine on an SSD via sata-->USB3 connector) -- however the Hasleo WintoUSB which is a way of doing this is broken again for this release.

Cheers
jimbo