> "T Magritte" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>
>
>
> > Hi,
>
> > I read that using the Complete PC Backup feature in Vista you can
> > create an .vhd that can be mounted in a Virtual PC 2007 virtual
> > machine. This made me think that I might be able to clone my current
> > system within a virtual machine so that I could test install
> > applications or system changes =A0on something resembling my current
> > state without having to risk my setup or constantly restore from
> > backups.
>
> > I managed to get the backup done and found the .vhd file. I moved its
> > location and changed permissions so that I'd be able to read and write
> > to it without elevation then set it up as the primary drive on a new
> > virtual machine. The machine failed to boot so I loaded the virtual
> > machine into the Vista setup CD and ran a startup repair. It got
> > further, but then it would fail with a message saying Drive Read Error
> > and again fail to boot.
>
> > Is what I'm trying to do possible or when they say you can use a
> > backup as a virtual drive within a virtual machine, is that only if
> > you want to use it as a secondary drive?
>
> > I also thought about trying to restore the backup onto an empty
> > virtual drive from within the virtual machine but I don't know how to
> > get the backup image into the virtual machine in a way that would be
> > accessible. I thought I'd use shared folders but then apparantly you
> > need to install some addiitonal software from within the virtual
> > machine and that appears to require a running Windows OS. So would I
> > have to actually do a full install before I could do a restore or is
> > there an easier way?
>
> > Thanks.
>
> =A0 =A0Where did you hear that this was possible? It has been discussed i=
> group before and the general opinion has always been that it is not
> possible.
>
> =A0 =A0 The Vista backup certainly used the .vhd format the backup file, =
> does not create a bootable image.

> Hi,
>
> I read that using the Complete PC Backup feature in Vista you can
> create an .vhd that can be mounted in a Virtual PC 2007 virtual
> machine. This made me think that I might be able to clone my current
> system within a virtual machine so that I could test install
> applications or system changes on something resembling my current
> state without having to risk my setup or constantly restore from
> backups.
>
> I managed to get the backup done and found the .vhd file. I moved its
> location and changed permissions so that I'd be able to read and write
> to it without elevation then set it up as the primary drive on a new
> virtual machine. The machine failed to boot so I loaded the virtual
> machine into the Vista setup CD and ran a startup repair. It got
> further, but then it would fail with a message saying Drive Read Error
> and again fail to boot.
>
> Is what I'm trying to do possible or when they say you can use a
> backup as a virtual drive within a virtual machine, is that only if
> you want to use it as a secondary drive?
>
> I also thought about trying to restore the backup onto an empty
> virtual drive from within the virtual machine but I don't know how to
> get the backup image into the virtual machine in a way that would be
> accessible. I thought I'd use shared folders but then apparantly you
> need to install some addiitonal software from within the virtual
> machine and that appears to require a running Windows OS. So would I
> have to actually do a full install before I could do a restore or is
> there an easier way?
>
> Thanks.

> On Jul 26, 5:47 am, "Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote:
>> "T Magritte" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>
>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>
>>
>>
>> > Hi,
>>
>> > I read that using the Complete PC Backup feature in Vista you can
>> > create an .vhd that can be mounted in a Virtual PC 2007 virtual
>> > machine. This made me think that I might be able to clone my current
>> > system within a virtual machine so that I could test install
>> > applications or system changes on something resembling my current
>> > state without having to risk my setup or constantly restore from
>> > backups.
>>
>> > I managed to get the backup done and found the .vhd file. I moved its
>> > location and changed permissions so that I'd be able to read and write
>> > to it without elevation then set it up as the primary drive on a new
>> > virtual machine. The machine failed to boot so I loaded the virtual
>> > machine into the Vista setup CD and ran a startup repair. It got
>> > further, but then it would fail with a message saying Drive Read Error
>> > and again fail to boot.
>>
>> > Is what I'm trying to do possible or when they say you can use a
>> > backup as a virtual drive within a virtual machine, is that only if
>> > you want to use it as a secondary drive?
>>
>> > I also thought about trying to restore the backup onto an empty
>> > virtual drive from within the virtual machine but I don't know how to
>> > get the backup image into the virtual machine in a way that would be
>> > accessible. I thought I'd use shared folders but then apparantly you
>> > need to install some addiitonal software from within the virtual
>> > machine and that appears to require a running Windows OS. So would I
>> > have to actually do a full install before I could do a restore or is
>> > there an easier way?
>>
>> > Thanks.
>>
>> Where did you hear that this was possible? It has been discussed in this
>> group before and the general opinion has always been that it is not
>> possible.
>>
>> The Vista backup certainly used the .vhd format the backup file, but it
>> does not create a bootable image.
>
> I probably misunderstood what I read. Doing another search I found
> instructions how to mount a backup image so files can be extracted in
> a virtual machine but not how to boot from it. I had hoped, however,
> that the repair boot utility in the Vista startup disc would make the
> bootable but I get these read errors instead. On principle I don't
> understand why the backup image shouldn't be bootable or be able to be
> made bootable.
>
> What happens if you want to restore the image to a real harddrive.
> Will that not be bootable? The one time I did try to do this it didn't
> work because the restore utility didn't like the fact that the target
> disk wasn't partitioned in exactly the same way as the source disk. I
> wonder if the completepc backup is of any use at or if it's just a
> danger giving people a false sense of security that they have a system
> backup when in reality they'll never be able to restore it...
>
> But back on topic, do you know if third party virtualiation software
> (VMWare or Parallels desktops) can do a virtual clone of a running
> system?
>
> Thanks,
> T.

> "T Magritte" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>
>
>
> > On Jul 26, 5:47 am, "Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote:
> >> "T Magritte" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>
> >>news:(email address - cut out)..=
>
> >> > Hi,
>
> >> > I read that using the Complete PC Backup feature in Vista you can
> >> > create an .vhd that can be mounted in a Virtual PC 2007 virtual
> >> > machine. This made me think that I might be able to clone my current
> >> > system within a virtual machine so that I could test install
> >> > applications or system changes on something resembling my current
> >> > state without having to risk my setup or constantly restore from
> >> > backups.
>
> >> > I managed to get the backup done and found the .vhd file. I moved it=
> >> > location and changed permissions so that I'd be able to read and wri=
> >> > to it without elevation then set it up as the primary drive on a new
> >> > virtual machine. The machine failed to boot so I loaded the virtual
> >> > machine into the Vista setup CD and ran a startup repair. It got
> >> > further, but then it would fail with a message saying Drive Read Err=
> >> > and again fail to boot.
>
> >> > Is what I'm trying to do possible or when they say you can use a
> >> > backup as a virtual drive within a virtual machine, is that only if
> >> > you want to use it as a secondary drive?
>
> >> > I also thought about trying to restore the backup onto an empty
> >> > virtual drive from within the virtual machine but I don't know how t=
> >> > get the backup image into the virtual machine in a way that would be
> >> > accessible. I thought I'd use shared folders but then apparantly you
> >> > need to install some addiitonal software from within the virtual
> >> > machine and that appears to require a running Windows OS. So would I
> >> > have to actually do a full install before I could do a restore or is
> >> > there an easier way?
>
> >> > Thanks.
>
> >> Where did you hear that this was possible? It has been discussed in th=
> >> group before and the general opinion has always been that it is not
> >> possible.
>
> >> The Vista backup certainly used the .vhd format the backup file, but i=
> >> does not create a bootable image.
>
> > I probably misunderstood what I read. Doing another search I found
> > instructions how to mount a backup image so files can be extracted in
> > a virtual machine but not how to boot from it. I had hoped, however,
> > that the repair boot utility in the Vista startup disc would make the
> > bootable but I get these read errors instead. On principle I don't
> > understand why the backup image shouldn't be bootable or be able to be
> > made bootable.
>
> > What happens if you want to restore the image to a real harddrive.
> > Will that not be bootable? The one time I did try to do this it didn't
> > work because the restore utility didn't like the fact that the target
> > disk wasn't partitioned in exactly the same way as the source disk. I
> > wonder if the completepc backup is of any use at or if it's just a
> > danger giving people a false sense of security that they have a system
> > backup when in reality they'll never be able to restore it...
>
> > But back on topic, do you know if third party virtualiation software
> > (VMWare or Parallels desktops) can do a virtual clone of a running
> > system?
>
> > Thanks,
> > T.
>
> =A0 =A0You can do it with VPC using a third party solution like Acronis T=
> Image with universal restore. Universal restore takes care of the differe=
> "hardware" between the physical machine
> and the emulated hardware in a vm.

> "T Magritte" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>
>
>
> > On Jul 26, 5:47 am, "Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote:
> >> "T Magritte" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>
> >>news:(email address - cut out)..=
>
> >> > Hi,
>
> >> > I read that using the Complete PC Backup feature in Vista you can
> >> > create an .vhd that can be mounted in a Virtual PC 2007 virtual
> >> > machine. This made me think that I might be able to clone my current
> >> > system within a virtual machine so that I could test install
> >> > applications or system changes on something resembling my current
> >> > state without having to risk my setup or constantly restore from
> >> > backups.
>
> >> > I managed to get the backup done and found the .vhd file. I moved it=
> >> > location and changed permissions so that I'd be able to read and wri=
> >> > to it without elevation then set it up as the primary drive on a new
> >> > virtual machine. The machine failed to boot so I loaded the virtual
> >> > machine into the Vista setup CD and ran a startup repair. It got
> >> > further, but then it would fail with a message saying Drive Read Err=
> >> > and again fail to boot.
>
> >> > Is what I'm trying to do possible or when they say you can use a
> >> > backup as a virtual drive within a virtual machine, is that only if
> >> > you want to use it as a secondary drive?
>
> >> > I also thought about trying to restore the backup onto an empty
> >> > virtual drive from within the virtual machine but I don't know how t=
> >> > get the backup image into the virtual machine in a way that would be
> >> > accessible. I thought I'd use shared folders but then apparantly you
> >> > need to install some addiitonal software from within the virtual
> >> > machine and that appears to require a running Windows OS. So would I
> >> > have to actually do a full install before I could do a restore or is
> >> > there an easier way?
>
> >> > Thanks.
>
> >> Where did you hear that this was possible? It has been discussed in th=
> >> group before and the general opinion has always been that it is not
> >> possible.
>
> >> The Vista backup certainly used the .vhd format the backup file, but i=
> >> does not create a bootable image.
>
> > I probably misunderstood what I read. Doing another search I found
> > instructions how to mount a backup image so files can be extracted in
> > a virtual machine but not how to boot from it. I had hoped, however,
> > that the repair boot utility in the Vista startup disc would make the
> > bootable but I get these read errors instead. On principle I don't
> > understand why the backup image shouldn't be bootable or be able to be
> > made bootable.
>
> > What happens if you want to restore the image to a real harddrive.
> > Will that not be bootable? The one time I did try to do this it didn't
> > work because the restore utility didn't like the fact that the target
> > disk wasn't partitioned in exactly the same way as the source disk. I
> > wonder if the completepc backup is of any use at or if it's just a
> > danger giving people a false sense of security that they have a system
> > backup when in reality they'll never be able to restore it...
>
> > But back on topic, do you know if third party virtualiation software
> > (VMWare or Parallels desktops) can do a virtual clone of a running
> > system?
>
> > Thanks,
> > T.
>
> =A0 =A0You can do it with VPC using a third party solution like Acronis T=
> Image with universal restore. Universal restore takes care of the differe=
> "hardware" between the physical machine
> and the emulated hardware in a vm.

> On Jul 26, 6:55 pm, "Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote:
>> "T Magritte" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>
>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Jul 26, 5:47 am, "Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote:
>> >> "T Magritte" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>
>> >>news:(email address - cut out)...
>>
>> >> > Hi,
>>
>> >> > I read that using the Complete PC Backup feature in Vista you can
>> >> > create an .vhd that can be mounted in a Virtual PC 2007 virtual
>> >> > machine. This made me think that I might be able to clone my current
>> >> > system within a virtual machine so that I could test install
>> >> > applications or system changes on something resembling my current
>> >> > state without having to risk my setup or constantly restore from
>> >> > backups.
>>
>> >> > I managed to get the backup done and found the .vhd file. I moved
>> >> > its
>> >> > location and changed permissions so that I'd be able to read and
>> >> > write
>> >> > to it without elevation then set it up as the primary drive on a new
>> >> > virtual machine. The machine failed to boot so I loaded the virtual
>> >> > machine into the Vista setup CD and ran a startup repair. It got
>> >> > further, but then it would fail with a message saying Drive Read
>> >> > Error
>> >> > and again fail to boot.
>>
>> >> > Is what I'm trying to do possible or when they say you can use a
>> >> > backup as a virtual drive within a virtual machine, is that only if
>> >> > you want to use it as a secondary drive?
>>
>> >> > I also thought about trying to restore the backup onto an empty
>> >> > virtual drive from within the virtual machine but I don't know how
>> >> > to
>> >> > get the backup image into the virtual machine in a way that would be
>> >> > accessible. I thought I'd use shared folders but then apparantly you
>> >> > need to install some addiitonal software from within the virtual
>> >> > machine and that appears to require a running Windows OS. So would I
>> >> > have to actually do a full install before I could do a restore or is
>> >> > there an easier way?
>>
>> >> > Thanks.
>>
>> >> Where did you hear that this was possible? It has been discussed in
>> >> this
>> >> group before and the general opinion has always been that it is not
>> >> possible.
>>
>> >> The Vista backup certainly used the .vhd format the backup file, but
>> >> it
>> >> does not create a bootable image.
>>
>> > I probably misunderstood what I read. Doing another search I found
>> > instructions how to mount a backup image so files can be extracted in
>> > a virtual machine but not how to boot from it. I had hoped, however,
>> > that the repair boot utility in the Vista startup disc would make the
>> > bootable but I get these read errors instead. On principle I don't
>> > understand why the backup image shouldn't be bootable or be able to be
>> > made bootable.
>>
>> > What happens if you want to restore the image to a real harddrive.
>> > Will that not be bootable? The one time I did try to do this it didn't
>> > work because the restore utility didn't like the fact that the target
>> > disk wasn't partitioned in exactly the same way as the source disk. I
>> > wonder if the completepc backup is of any use at or if it's just a
>> > danger giving people a false sense of security that they have a system
>> > backup when in reality they'll never be able to restore it...
>>
>> > But back on topic, do you know if third party virtualiation software
>> > (VMWare or Parallels desktops) can do a virtual clone of a running
>> > system?
>>
>> > Thanks,
>> > T.
>>
>> You can do it with VPC using a third party solution like Acronis True
>> Image with universal restore. Universal restore takes care of the
>> different
>> "hardware" between the physical machine
>> and the emulated hardware in a vm.
>
> I tried Acronis True Image 11 but it's not compatible with Windows
> running under bootcamp on a mac (which is one of my configurations) so
> it's not of much use. I also tried Symantec Ghost 14 but it's no
> better than Vista's complete PC backup in this regard. Symantec Backup
> Exec System Restore Desktop 8.01 (there's a mouthful) did work better.
> It has a "restore anywhere" feature so you can activate that to
> restore to different hardware or within a virtual machine. Even better
> it comes with a utility that will convert a backup image into a VMware
> or VirtualPC virtual harddrive (implimenting the restore anywhere
> feature) so you don't even need to do a restore from within the
> virtual machine. You can do a backup of your current system drive,
> convert it to an .ahk file then mount it as the primary hard drive in
> Virtual PC. The first boot takes a while as it has to install new
> drivers but it seems to work pretty well. Another one that seems to
> have similar features but I haven't tried is ShadowProtect Backup.
>
> I'm a little disappointed at the performance of Vista in the Virtual
> PC. From what I'd read I'd expected fairly decent performance but I
> found it to be very sluggish. I image most of the sluggishness is poor
> video emulation performance. Maybe processor intensive tasks perform
> better but basic window manipulation is pretty slow. Is there any
> significant improvement in performance using Vmware or Parallel's
> offerings versus Virtual PC 2007? Do any of those support Aero glass
> in the VM? I did try Vmware Fusion 2 beta under OSX and it didn't seem
> any better but I haven't tried any of the other VM software under
> Vista.
>
> Thanks,
> T.

> "T Magritte" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>
>
>
> > On Jul 26, 6:55 pm, "Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote:
> >> "T Magritte" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>
> >>news:(email address - cut out).=
>
> >> > On Jul 26, 5:47 am, "Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote:
> >> >> "T Magritte" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>
> >> >>news:(email address - cut out)=
>
> >> >> > Hi,
>
> >> >> > I read that using the Complete PC Backup feature in Vista you can
> >> >> > create an .vhd that can be mounted in a Virtual PC 2007 virtual
> >> >> > machine. This made me think that I might be able to clone my curr=
> >> >> > system within a virtual machine so that I could test install
> >> >> > applications or system changes on something resembling my current
> >> >> > state without having to risk my setup or constantly restore from
> >> >> > backups.
>
> >> >> > I managed to get the backup done and found the .vhd file. I moved
> >> >> > its
> >> >> > location and changed permissions so that I'd be able to read and
> >> >> > write
> >> >> > to it without elevation then set it up as the primary drive on a =
> >> >> > virtual machine. The machine failed to boot so I loaded the virtu=
> >> >> > machine into the Vista setup CD and ran a startup repair. It got
> >> >> > further, but then it would fail with a message saying Drive Read
> >> >> > Error
> >> >> > and again fail to boot.
>
> >> >> > Is what I'm trying to do possible or when they say you can use a
> >> >> > backup as a virtual drive within a virtual machine, is that only =
> >> >> > you want to use it as a secondary drive?
>
> >> >> > I also thought about trying to restore the backup onto an empty
> >> >> > virtual drive from within the virtual machine but I don't know ho=
> >> >> > to
> >> >> > get the backup image into the virtual machine in a way that would=
> >> >> > accessible. I thought I'd use shared folders but then apparantly =
> >> >> > need to install some addiitonal software from within the virtual
> >> >> > machine and that appears to require a running Windows OS. So woul=
> >> >> > have to actually do a full install before I could do a restore or=
> >> >> > there an easier way?
>
> >> >> > Thanks.
>
> >> >> Where did you hear that this was possible? It has been discussed in
> >> >> this
> >> >> group before and the general opinion has always been that it is not
> >> >> possible.
>
> >> >> The Vista backup certainly used the .vhd format the backup file, bu=
> >> >> it
> >> >> does not create a bootable image.
>
> >> > I probably misunderstood what I read. Doing another search I found
> >> > instructions how to mount a backup image so files can be extracted i=
> >> > a virtual machine but not how to boot from it. I had hoped, however,
> >> > that the repair boot utility in the Vista startup disc would make th=
> >> > bootable but I get these read errors instead. On principle I don't
> >> > understand why the backup image shouldn't be bootable or be able to =
> >> > made bootable.
>
> >> > What happens if you want to restore the image to a real harddrive.
> >> > Will that not be bootable? The one time I did try to do this it didn=
> >> > work because the restore utility didn't like the fact that the targe=
> >> > disk wasn't partitioned in exactly the same way as the source disk. =
> >> > wonder if the completepc backup is of any use at or if it's just a
> >> > danger giving people a false sense of security that they have a syst=
> >> > backup when in reality they'll never be able to restore it...
>
> >> > But back on topic, do you know if third party virtualiation software
> >> > (VMWare or Parallels desktops) can do a virtual clone of a running
> >> > system?
>
> >> > Thanks,
> >> > T.
>
> >> You can do it with VPC using a third party solution like Acronis True
> >> Image with universal restore. Universal restore takes care of the
> >> different
> >> "hardware" between the physical machine
> >> and the emulated hardware in a vm.
>
> > I tried Acronis True Image 11 but it's not compatible with Windows
> > running under bootcamp on a mac (which is one of my configurations) so
> > it's not of much use. I also tried Symantec Ghost 14 but it's no
> > better than Vista's complete PC backup in this regard. Symantec Backup
> > Exec System Restore Desktop 8.01 (there's a mouthful) did work better.
> > It has a "restore anywhere" feature so you can activate that to
> > restore to different hardware or within a virtual machine. Even better
> > it comes with a utility that will convert a backup image into a VMware
> > or VirtualPC virtual harddrive (implimenting the restore anywhere
> > feature) so you don't even need to do a restore from within the
> > virtual machine. You can do a backup of your current system drive,
> > convert it to an .ahk file then mount it as the primary hard drive in
> > Virtual PC. The first boot takes a while as it has to install new
> > drivers but it seems to work pretty well. Another one that seems to
> > have similar features but I haven't tried is ShadowProtect Backup.
>
> > I'm a little disappointed at the performance of Vista in the Virtual
> > PC. From what I'd read I'd expected fairly decent performance but I
> > found it to be very sluggish. I image most of the sluggishness is poor
> > video emulation performance. Maybe processor intensive tasks perform
> > better but basic window manipulation is pretty slow. Is there any
> > significant improvement in performance using Vmware or Parallel's
> > offerings versus Virtual PC 2007? Do any of those support Aero glass
> > in the VM? I did try Vmware Fusion 2 beta under OSX and it didn't seem
> > any better but I haven't tried any of the other VM software under
> > Vista.
>
> > Thanks,
> > T.
>
> =A0 =A0 What are you running as the host OS? On what hardware? How much m=
> are you allocating to the vm?
>
> =A0 =A0 Vista doesn't run all that well even on a hard metal machine unle=
> give it plenty of RAM, a fast processor and good video. With at least 2G =
> a slick 2-core CPU and a good video card it runs well. You are unlikely t=
> get that from any form of virtualization.
>
> =A0 =A0I run Vista as the host and run other client OSs under VPC 2007 on=

>>
>> What are you running as the host OS? On what hardware? How much memory
>> are you allocating to the vm?
>>
>> Vista doesn't run all that well even on a hard metal machine unless you
>> give it plenty of RAM, a fast processor and good video. With at least 2G
>> and
>> a slick 2-core CPU and a good video card it runs well. You are unlikely
>> to
>> get that from any form of virtualization.
>>
>> I run Vista as the host and run other client OSs under VPC 2007 on Vista.
>
> Hi,
>
> Didn't notice there was a reply...
>
> I'm running Vista as the host on a Dual core2 with 4 GB RAM (but using
> 32bit OS, so only about 3.2 is useable). I allocate about 50% (1.5 GB)
> to the virtual machine. I figure that's the best compromise. It's got
> a geofrece 8600M GT. That's on my laptop. I've also tried on my
> Desktop, which is a quad core2 with 4GB and a geforce 9600GT but it's
> about the same as far as the VM performance. I do notice that Virtual
> PC doesn't seem to make use of more than 1 core.
>
> I suppose I could use XP as the guest OS but one of the main reasons I
> want to start using VMs is to test install new or unknown software
> before putting it on my main OS. So I'd rather see if there are any
> issues with Vista in the VM environment. Are there any settings that
> would significantly improve Vista performance in a VM. What's the best
> memory configuration to use (the 'recommended' 512 MB is a joke)?
> Should I completely disable aero?
>
> Thanks!

> "T Magritte" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>
> > I read that using the Complete PC Backup feature in Vista you can
> > create an .vhd that can be mounted in a Virtual PC 2007 virtual
> > machine. This made me think that I might be able to clone my current
> > system within a virtual machine so that I could test install
> > applications or system changes =A0on something resembling my current
> > state without having to risk my setup or constantly restore from
> > backups.
>
> You'd be better off usingwww.sandboxie.comfor such tests, rather
> than a full Virtual PC environment.

> I read that using the Complete PC Backup feature in Vista you can
> create an .vhd that can be mounted in a Virtual PC 2007 virtual
> machine. This made me think that I might be able to clone my current
> system within a virtual machine so that I could test install
> applications or system changes on something resembling my current
> state without having to risk my setup or constantly restore from
> backups.

> > You'd be better off usingwww.sandboxie.comfor such tests, rather
> > than a full Virtual PC environment.
>
> I'm not clear on if Sandboxie is free or not... How does it compare to
> something like Microsoft Steadystate or DriveClone's drive snapshots?

> Sandboxie is free, but you can pay for an advanced version with more
> functions. The free version is sufficient, IMO. Install it, then you
> simply right-click any exe/msi/bat file and select "Run Sandboxed".
> From that point, the file (and it's child processes) CAN'T touch the
> main PC's files at all. I've tried it, even writing an app to delete
> my Windows folder and it didn't do squat. :)

> "T Magritte" <(email address - cut out)> wrote
>
> > > You'd be better off usingwww.sandboxie.comforsuch tests, rather
> > > than a full Virtual PC environment.
>
> > I'm not clear on if Sandboxie is free or not... How does it compare to
> > something like Microsoft Steadystate or DriveClone's drive snapshots?
>
> Sandboxie is free, but you can pay for an advanced version with more
> functions. The free version is sufficient, IMO. Install it, then you
> simply right-click any exe/msi/bat file and select "Run Sandboxed".
> From that point, the file (and it's child processes) CAN'T touch the
> main PC's files at all. I've tried it, even writing an app to delete
> my Windows folder and it didn't do squat. :)
>
> It's so much more convenient and faster for testing a new app than
> putting that app inside a virtual environment and running it from
> there. Sandboxie has a great reputation too. Try it and see. :)

> So, if I set the installer for an application to run within the
> sandbox, I'll be able to temporarily install and run it, but then when
> I erase the sandbox, it will be as if it was never installed? That
> would be pretty nice.
> Ever tried it on a live virus/trojan to see if it REALLY works?
> have you ever tried Microsoft Steadystate?
> I'll definitely try it out.

> apps that I download for testing, before installing them "normally",
> so that I know exactly what they'll do to the system beforehand.