Stop Testing Suspicious Files on Your Real Computer

Downloaded something sketchy? Don't run it on your actual machine.

Windows 10 and 11 Pro have a built-in disposable VM called Windows Sandbox. It launches a clean Windows instance in seconds. Run whatever you want. Close the window. Everything is destroyed. Your real system stays untouched.

No snapshots to manage. No disk images eating 40GB of space. No VM licensing headaches.

Every time you open Windows Sandbox, you get a fresh Windows installation. Every time you close it, everything inside is permanently deleted. It's perfect for:

• Testing suspicious email attachments
• Running installers from unknown sources
• Checking if that "free tool" from a random forum is actually malware
• Clean browser sessions with zero tracking

Enable it with one PowerShell command:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -FeatureName "Containers-DisposableClientVM" -Online

Reboot and you're done. Search "Windows Sandbox" in the Start menu.

For pre-configured sandbox setups with auto-downloading analysis tools, network isolation, and mapped folders, check out our toolkit on GitHub:

https://github.com/RC-Techworks/windows-debug-sandbox

Full walkthrough with screenshots:

https://rain-city.tech/blog/safe-software-testing-with-windows-sandbox/