Recent versions of Windows 10 give users the ability to install a sandboxed version of the OS for running programs you may only need once, or don’t want to be installed on your main disk. When you are done, as soon as you close the Sandbox, everything you have done will be lost. I’m just going to list off some tips and flaws I’ve encountered with this feature.
- To install this, you would need to install the Feature from the old Windows 7-era Windows Features. You can search “Turn Windows Features On or Off” in your start menu or access it from the classic Control Panel – Programs and Features – Turn Windows Features On or Off. It is listed as Windows Sandbox.
- While this system logs directly into the interface, there are some rare scenarios you may need the password to the default user of the system, “WDAGUtilityAccount“. The password might be “pw123” however I’ve not had time to test it. What I did when I needed the password, was reset it with the command line, by running the command “net user WDAGUtilityAccount * ” without quotes, and this would allow you to set a new password. Remember that any password changes will, of course, be wiped when you open the Sandbox again next time.
- There will be issues if you want to run Hyper-V alongside other VM programs like VirtualBox and VMWare. Unfortunately, Windows Sandbox uses a limited version of Microsoft’s Hyper-V, so conflicts tend to occur. I’m still trying to get Sandbox and VirtualBox running concurrently without issue. The new VirtualBox 6 supports Hyper-V but I’ve yet to be able to experience that.
- At least in my experience, the Windows Sandbox IP address is 192.168.183.166 so if you run any server programs that you want to access on the host device that is running the Windows Sandbox through a web browser. I am unsure if this can be accessed from other devices on the network, by default at least.