A great number of programs are available to download from the internet for free. But freeware es­pe­cial­ly is as­so­ci­at­ed with the risk of in­stalling malware in addition to the actual ap­pli­ca­tion and thereby damaging the operating system. Users typically only realize that a program is harmful after having installed it. The sandbox solves this problem and allows users to install software pre­lim­i­nar­i­ly within an isolated en­vi­ron­ment. As of Windows 10 Pro version 1903, Windows Sandbox has been available as part of the operating system, but it is usually disabled in the settings. We explain how you can turn on Windows Sandbox step by step.

Windows Sandbox: a virtual testing en­vi­ron­ment

A sandbox is an isolated en­vi­ron­ment separated from the rest of the operating system. However, the same functions are available as in a “con­ven­tion­al” Windows version. Each time it’s used, the sandbox works like a newly booted computer, without any installed ap­pli­ca­tions and programs.

This virtual en­vi­ron­ment lets you install and test po­ten­tial­ly unsafe programs. If the software is harmful and contains a virus, it will have no effect on the actual operating system. When closing Windows Sandbox, all programs and data are au­to­mat­i­cal­ly and per­ma­nent­ly deleted. Before in­stalling po­ten­tial­ly dangerous ap­pli­ca­tions or programs, it’s a good idea to run a test in­stal­la­tion in the sandbox. This way, you can rule out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of damaging your operating system.

The following computer re­quire­ments must be met in order to use Windows Sandbox:

  • At least Windows 10 Pro version 18305
  • 64-bit version
  • Vir­tu­al­iza­tion activated in BIO and a suitable CPU
  • 1 GB of free memory, ideally on an SSD
  • At least 4 GB of RAM, however 8 GB is rec­om­mend­ed
  • Two CPU cores
Tip

Unsure whether your Windows version is suitable? Find out what version of Windows you are running using the key com­bi­na­tion [Windows] + [Pause].

How to turn on Windows Sandbox

By default, Windows Sandbox is de­ac­ti­vat­ed. But it can be activated with just a few clicks in the Control Panel.

Step 1: Open Windows Features

In the task bar, enter “Turn Windows features on or off” in the search field and select the search result.

Image: Opening the Windows features dialog field
Open the dialog field “Windows Features” via the search function.

Al­ter­na­tive­ly, you can launch Windows Features via the command dialog. Open the dialog field using the key com­bi­na­tion [Windows] + [R]. Next, enter “op­tion­alfea­tures” into the search field and confirm with “OK”.

Image: Command dialog: optionalfeatures
Enter “op­tion­alfea­tures” in the command dialog.

Step 2: Turn on Windows Sandbox

The “Windows Features” dialog will launch. Navigate to the option “Windows Sandbox” using the arrow keys. Activate the Windows feature by enabling the cor­re­spond­ing checkbox. Confirm with “OK”.

Image: Windows Features: Activating Windows Sandbox
Activate Windows Sandbox using the cor­re­spond­ing checkbox.
Tip

If the “Windows Sandbox” option is greyed-out and can’t be selected, it is likely that vir­tu­al­iza­tion in BIOS is de­ac­ti­vat­ed. First, you will need to start the BIOS and then enable Windows Sandbox from there.

Step 3: Restart the computer

Once you have confirmed your entry, the operating system will au­to­mat­i­cal­ly load all necessary data for Windows Sandbox. Once the process has completed, a dialog will prompt you to restart the PC. This is necessary in order to activate the sandbox suc­cess­ful­ly. Follow the in­struc­tions and click on the “Restart now” button.

Image: Enabling Windows Sandbox: restarting the PC
Fully ac­ti­vat­ing Windows Sandbox requires a PC restart.

Step 4: Open Windows Sandbox

After the computer has been restarted, Windows Sandbox will be ready to use. To launch it, enter the name of the Windows feature into the search field in the task bar. Next, click on the re­spec­tive search result on the left or select the option “Open” on the right.

Image: Opening Windows Sandbox
Use the search function in the task bar to open Windows Sandbox.

Step 5: Confirm Safety Query

When you launch Windows Sandbox for the first time, a safety query will appear from User Account Control. Accept it by clicking “Yes”.

Image: Enabling Windows Sandbox: Safety query
Confirm the safety query to use Windows Sandbox.

Step 6: Use Windows Sandbox

Windows Sandbox will then open as its own window. The user interface is identical to the normal Windows operating system. To start a program in the sandbox, copy the files from the regular operating system into the cache using the key com­bi­na­tion [Ctrl] + [C]. Next, insert the file into the sandbox using [Ctrl] + [V]. There, you can run or install the ap­pli­ca­tion.

Once you have completed the trial in­stal­la­tion in the secure en­vi­ron­ment, close the sandbox by clicking on the “X” in the top-right corner. The system will then au­to­mat­i­cal­ly delete all data in the sandbox ir­rev­o­ca­bly. To use the tested program on a permanent basis, you will need to re-install it on the main operating system.

Image: Windows Sandbox: Start screen
No programs or ap­pli­ca­tions are pre-installed in Windows Sandbox.
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