Windows Sandbox is one of those features all developers, as well as enthusiasts, have been waiting for. It is finally included in the Windows 10 Operating System from the build 1903, and if your Windows 10 laptop or desktop supports virtualization, then you can use it. You have to make sure that the virtualization feature is enabled on your system first.
Sandbox can be used for many things. One of the benefits of using the Sandbox feature is to test third party software without letting it harm your files or programs. Using Sandbox is more secure than testing such applications directly on the host operating system because if the application contains any malicious code, it will affect the files and applications present on the system. This can lead to virus infections, file corruption, and other harm that the malware can cause to your system. You can also test an unstable application once you enable the Sandbox feature in Windows 10. But how do you use it? How do you enable or disable the Sandbox feature in Windows 10?
Enable or Disable Windows 10 Sandbox Feature
Let’s have a look at all the possible methods you can implement to enable as well as disable the Windows 10 Sandbox feature. But first, you need to have virtualization enabled on your system. Once you make sure that your hardware supports virtualization (you can check on the manufacturer’s website), enter UEFI or BIOS settings.
Enable or Disable Windows 10 Sandbox Feature Method 1: Enable or Disable Sandbox using Control Panel Method 2: Enable or Disable Sandbox using Command Prompt/Powershell
There would be an option to enable or disable the Virtualization in CPU settings. Different manufacturer UEFI or BIOS interfaces are different, and hence the setting might be in different places. Once the virtualization is enabled, reboot the Windows 10 PC. Open the Task Manager. To do so, use the Windows Key Combination Shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Esc. You can also right-click on the empty aread on the taskbar and then choose the Task Manager. Open the CPU tab. In the information provided, you will be able to see if the virtualization feature is enabled or not.
Once virtualization is enabled, you can go ahead and enable the Windows Sandbox feature. Here are some methods that will be useful for the same.
Method 1: Enable or Disable Sandbox using Control Panel
Windows 10 Sandbox can be enabled or disabled through the built-in Control Panel. To do so,
Press Windows Key + S to open search. Type “Control Panel”, click on Control Panel from the search results.
Click on Programs.
Now click on the Turn Windows Features on or off under Programs & Features.
Now under the Windows Features list, scroll down and find Windows Sandbox. Make sure to checkmark the box next to Windows Sandbox.
Click on OK, and Reboot your PC to save settings.
Once the system restarts, launch Sandbox from the Windows 10 Start Menu.
Method 2: Enable or Disable Sandbox using Command Prompt/Powershell
You can also enable or disable Windows Sandbox feature from the Command Prompt using useful yet straight forward commands.
Open the elevated Command Prompt. using any one of the methods given listed here.
Type this command in the command prompt and press Enter to execute it. Dism /online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:”Containers-DisposableClientVM” -All
You can then use this command to disable the Windows Sandbox using the same procedure. Dism /online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:”Containers-DisposableClientVM”
You can then use the Windows Sandbox application once you restart your PC. This is all about the methods you can use to enable or disable Sandbox feature on Windows 10. It comes with Windows 10 with May 2019 update (Build 1903 and newer) as an optional feature that you can enable or disable it according to your needs. To copy files to & fro from the Sandbox and the host Windows 10 operating system, you can use the general copy and paste shortcuts like Ctrl + C & Ctrl + V. You can also use the right-click context menu copy & paste commands. Once the Sandbox is opened, you can copy the installers of the programs you want to test to the Sandbox and launch it there. Pretty good, isn’t it?
