Introduction

Microsoft recently released Windows 10 1903 on MSDN and should release it on VLSC at any moment now. I will show you how to enable Windows Sandbox using Powershell and give you some suggestions on how to use it.

Windows Sandbox is a feature in 1903 that allows you to create a sandbox container using virtualization technology. This container is running an instance of Windows 10 where you can install applications, browse the Internet, and test many things.

Windows will immediately delete the container when you close the Windows Sandbox window, which means it is great for testing. This is useful when you don’t know what the outcome will be or if you want to test something without harming your computer.

Getting Started

The steps required to enable Windows Sandbox using Powershell is straightforward, but there are some things that must be in place before you enable it.

Install or upgrade to Windows 10 1903

Enable Virtualization Technology in BIOS

When you have these prerequisites enabled, you can start an elevated Powershell prompt.

Use this cmdlet to enable Windows Sandbox using Powershell.

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -FeatureName "Containers-DisposableClientVM" -Online -NoRestart -ErrorAction Stop

Restart your computer and open the start menu to search for Sandbox and you will find Windows Sandbox available.

Clicking the Windows Sandbox application will open a new window with a desktop that looks exactly like a normal desktop. You can now drag-and-drop files and copy/paste between this container and your PC and therefore easily test things out.

This is what the sandbox looks like out of the box.

Summary

Windows Sandbox is easy to enable and a great tool to use when packaging applications, testing suspicious files or just playing around without changing your own machine.

I will use this to test applications for SCCM before deploying them and also to find the MSI GUID required for uninstallations in SCCM.

If you want to know more about Windows Sandbox, you can find that information here.