Alternative: install Proxmox on the hardware. Then install all the OSes you want to run on top of that.
this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2025
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Privacy
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Windows has a built-in feature for this
1: Windows Sandbox
2: Hyper-V
If you have 10 or 11 Pro, you should have these features. If not, there's always
3: Oracle Virtualbox
4: VMware Player
For 2, 3, 4, Get Windows 11 IoT Edition to install in the VM
Windows sandbox is easy.
Windows 11 is sketchy software
Surprised at the downvotes. I only run Windows these days blocked from the internet in my firewall. Treat it like the malware it is.
Personally I run VMware with windows on it.
This VM is disconnected from internet access and put on a separate VLAN on my network but has access to one share folder on my NAS.
Its overkill but fits my needs when I want to roll back the VM or save multiple sessions of it.
~~Replace the symlinks in the c/users/ directory with directories. And sandbox wine.~~
Edit: oops, on Windows. Is sandboxie still a thing?
Sandboxie is old, but these days Windows has a sandbox built in. You could use that (basically a lightweight VM) or a full VM. Windows also has a built-in hypervisor for VMs that helps them run efficiently.
You can still download the old gui version for free. I use it to run a second simultaneous instance of AmScope software on a device at work. (Two microscope feeds on same screen for x y viewing)
I'm not totally clear on how sandboxie plus comes into play as one or both versions are open source
If running Linux on decent Hardware, try Winboat. Easiest way imho
Why not run a vm? Nevermind i forgot windows things. What about an alt for the software
You can run a VM in Windows. Virtualbox is what I've used in the past, and it's pretty good. It's obviously work to set up, but you can revert a VM and use it to test other sketchy software if you need