Windows Sandbox is a temporary virtual desktop environment. Alternatively, hit Ctrl + R on your keyboard and type windowssandbox before clicking OK.Here's how you can set up the Windows Sandbox on Windows 10. In the Start Menu, scroll down and find the entry for Windows Sandbox before clicking it. Once your PC has rebooted, you should be ready to start using the Windows Sandbox. A Windows development post offers more guidance on how to create your Windows Sandbox configuration file. You can also disable networking on your Windows Sandbox to isolate it completely. If you plan on using the Sandbox regularly, you can create a shared folder between it and your host Windows 10 installation to easily share common files (like installation files). A custom configuration file allows you to enable a virtualized GPU for better graphics performance, for instance. Windows Sandbox will work without any extra configuration required.Ĭonfiguring the Sandbox can offer some advantages, however. It’s important to stress, however, that you don’t need to do this. It’s possible to configure the Windows 10 Sandbox before launch by creating a configuration file using the XML file format. Creating a Windows Sandbox Configuration File This may take a few minutes to complete, as Windows will complete the configuration and installation process before and after the reboot. To access the Task Manager, hit Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard, or right-click your Windows taskbar and click Task Manager.You can quickly double-check if virtualization is enabled by accessing the “Performance” tab in Windows Task Manager.

The first thing you need to do is ensure that virtualization is enabled on your PC to allow Windows 10 Sandbox to work. The Windows Sandbox will be an otherwise useful replacement if you currently run other Windows virtual machines.

If that’s the case, you may need to look at running Linux on Windows 10 using the Windows Subsystem for Linux instead.

This conflict won’t affect everyone, but it is something to think about, especially if you run Linux or other operating systems in a virtual machine. While walkarounds have been posted on the Virtualbox forum, these aren’t official and they aren’t guaranteed to work. This is because the underlying methods that Windows Sandbox uses conflicts with other virtualization software.

Windows 10 sandbox feature