Can anyone recommend some tips for running a VM to test out software first before installing on the host PC?

- Is there good free VM software to use?
- Is configuration required to protect the host from the VM (i.e. not allow access to host files)?

Or, aside from not downloading potentially dodgy software, is there another recommendation (outside of installing an antivirus, which I have) for dealing with potentially dodgy software?

 

Last edited: Sep 14, 2019

Virtualbox. Don't allow your host to interact with your guest e.g. making a shared folder, copying between hosts and I think you'll be fine.

You can try Sandboxie, you can install crap in a virtual enviironment this way.

 

First off, thanks for the helpful answer.. that's great. I will take a look at virtual box.

I actually use Sandboxie. I might not be using it to its full potential, but my current workflow when I grab something is... "install" via Sandboxie... if no weirdness happens while installing, install outside of Sandboxie. That's not really a great way, I don't think, but it's the only way I know currently.. and feel free to educate me here if there's a smarter way of testing an installer with Sandboxie. My big worry with this way is I can't see if it does something like delete some windows files or uninstall other software or something like that. Some legit stuff also gave errors when I run installer in Sandboxie too.

To be honest, I've been doing this sort of thing for a long time, and I've just going to trusted sources (or only downloading stuff that other people report as clean). I've been kind of rolling the dice with having a/v software protect me from installs, and running keygens in Sandboxie. Then one day, I think I had the a/v shut off, and I also don't think I test-ran through Sandboxie first. I installed something (off my go to source for a long time), and right at the end, it errored out. I tried running it again, and the error was even worse, and right from the start.. then I noticed my VPN was removed, my antivirus uninstalled, and I think some Windows files were missing.

The timing of everything pointed to my 'trusted source' as being a culprit, but it could have been something else. Regardless, I figured it was time to get a little more serious about testing out installers in isolation than the way I was doing it.

So anyways, my plan of attack with the VM now is going to be to fire up the VM (with a/v on it), install something, run the system file checker.... and basically see if I can tell if anything is damaged on install. Still not 100%, but better than how I've been doing it. I'm definitely open to advice here though!

 

Traditional and most robust approach... (sorry if I'm stating the obvious)
- use a 2nd machine; use any old 2nd hand piece of junk as a test machine.

That way...

Your main DAW machine(s)...
- is streamlined, completely uncluttered
- installs only stuff that has been tested on the junk machine
- doesn't need any security at all!
- never touches the Internet

Your junk machine...
- will be occasionally ravaged, (just accept that)
- should be instantly repairable from archived system images. e.g.,
- use (something like) Hiren's bootable USB, which includes system image tools
- use one of the system image tools (Ghost, Acronis, etc) to save and restore system images

Summary,
With your main machine... "prevention is better than cure"
- keep your main DAW box(es) permanently 100% safe (and use archived system images anyway)
With your junk computer... "instant cure is easier than prevention"
- be organised with archived system images of your junk machine
- if and when it gets screwed, restore it to clean in 10 minutes

p.s. I'm also a fan of using Virtual machines for other reasons, but I wouldn't clutter up a main DAW box with VMs.

 

@Ad Heesive: obvious in the sense that this thought has crossed my mind many times, but at the same time, I think I needed this answer.. so thank you! It was also very well explained too.

The reason I'm going with the VM approach right now is I don't have any spare machines lying around currently, and the wife and I are on a super tight budget. But I really appreciate your answer, and I'm going to see if I can get my hands on another machine soon. Anyways, the crummy thing is the wife and I had two spare PCs kicking around, but we sold them. But I'll get something eventually. I think that's the smarter way of doing things and you did a great job of explaining why.

All that said, I still appreciate your answer too, Alex, as that I may need to run a VM temporarily until I get another PC (and/or for other, more "legit" reasons).

 

+1

 

doesnt look easy to get a copy of my current setup of win 7 ported to a working virtualbox image? any recommended tool for an automatic conversion?

 

If you're not comfortable with a fore mentioned solutions, i copied pasted this script for a - non installed -sandboxie. You can delete C:\sandboxie after you are done with it. Pay attention to the script. As it does involve a secondary hard drive

Spoiler: code

@Echo off
ver |>NUL find /v "5." && if "%~1"=="" (
Echo CreateObject^("Shell.Application"^).ShellExecute WScript.Arguments^(0^),"1","","runas",1 >"%~dp0Elevating.vbs"
cscript.exe //nologo "%~dp0Elevating.vbs" "%~f0"& goto :eof
)
cmd /c DEL "%~dp0"Elevating.vbs
ECHO "%~dp0"
SET CURRENT_DIR=%~dp0
SET Sandbox_DIR=d:\Sandbox\PY\DefaultBox
dir "%Sandbox_DIR%\drive\C"
echo "%Sandbox_DIR%\drive\C"
cmd /c MOVE "%Sandbox_DIR%\drive\C" "%CURRENT_DIR%"
cmd /c MOVE "%Sandbox_DIR%\user\all" "%CURRENT_DIR%C"
cmd /c MOVE "%CURRENT_DIR%C\all" "%CURRENT_DIR%C\ProgramData"
cmd /c mkdir "%CURRENT_DIR%C\Users\"
cmd /c MOVE "%Sandbox_DIR%\user\current" "%CURRENT_DIR%C\Users"
cmd /c MOVE "%CURRENT_DIR%C\Users\current" "%CURRENT_DIR%C\Users\(Current User Name)"
CD /d "%~dp0C\"
tree>"%~dp0tree.txt"
CD /d "%~dp0"
:EXIT
PAUSE

Install Everything from voidtools, it can index almost instantaneously. Use 7zip, but don't drag an drop, if you want to unzip something do it from 7zip to 7zip. There are alot more tools, but bottom line is, if you want safety and security, don't use Windows.

I myself just use two partitions, one for playing with my daw, and other for browsing stuff. i don't know what you are planning do to, but you shouldn't be too concerned if you just wanna install some cracks. I guess a VPN wouldn't hurt.

 

Last edited: Sep 15, 2019

VM is not usable for audio applications, latency issues are tremendous

 

Not very compatible.
You COULD try to use a backup image of source pc and use the same backup sw to restore it in destination VDI. But don't expect great results, as drivers management will go mad.

Now it does not work for many programs, it worked a lot 10 years ago.

Don't care about it, it's just for testing / evaluation purposes, and doesn't clutter your main machine.

 

Thats why i posted the sanboxie script which is portable installation, a lot less work/clutter then 'try to create a backup of source and make it VDI compatible' for each and every crack you tryna install

 

Hi, i have some testing environment on vbox, it works flawlessly, it depends on your system specs, i assigned 6 out of 12 xeon cores and 12 Gigs of ram, also it's important to use a static disk space configuration(don't use dynamic). Vbox machines are connected to the local network, you have the option to enable shared folders and clipboard sharing, or you can simply leave them disabled if you want an isolated environment, also you have different options for network configuration, you can disable the vbox network card if you don't need to go to the internet and/or local network. If you have a usb audio card, you can connect it natively to the virtual machine and use the asio driver on windows as you would do normally with low latency. Vbox limitation is about 3D gpu functionality, but if you need to test audio software it's ok, otherwise vmware is ahead for that purpose. I usually start with fresh OS install, but you can try to clone your main OS with software like Acronis and boot the virtual machine from Acronis usb bootable utility to restore the image on the virtual machine(be sure to have enough disk space).

 

As far I understood, he wanted to clone his whole system partition in a vm. So I was suggesting how to do it, not caring at all of sandboxie. See below here.

It's what I suggested. I like Paragon, but also Acronis and the like should do.

 

I've had mixed experience with various VM solutions - one thing to make sure you cannot use multiple at once

anyway, depending on target OS and use, I'd go for either Oracle Virtualbox, or VMWare Player (both are free) - I'm on MacOS host most of the time, so I prefer Parallels though

 

I've had mixed experience with various VM solutions - one thing to make sure you cannot use multiple at once

anyway, depending on target OS and use, I'd go for either Oracle Virtualbox, or VMWare Player (both are free) - I'm on MacOS host most of the time, so I prefer Parallels though

one thing I liked about VMWare Player was ability to "bypass" internet to guest - means, I could have my host computer completely cutoff from internet, just local network, and use only VM guest to access internet

 

Last edited: Sep 15, 2019

No internet connected doesn't mean you'r offline
believe me i had alot of weird shit happen on my offline crap system
i dont no how but it is definetly possible there are no trojans or mallware that take over your mouse or do other weird things on a offline machine even if you disabled you'r lan card or bluetooth device in the bios

 

recently i just learn about docker/container.. didn't dive in deep.. wondering if anyone know if it can do things like vm do for side apps..

can it?

 

You won't get a UI in a container, that's not what containers are for. It might be possible to run a windows program/app on a windows container, but you won't see or be able to interact with the UI.

Containers are designed to host small services or servers so they can be scaled or secured.

I would use a container to host web server, audio transcode server, message routing (rabbit)....

 

Last edited by a moderator: Mar 25, 2021

@Haliax love it. thanks for teh time saver infobits.

 

Probably it's been said already, but VMWare Workstation is faster than VirtualBox.

The Hyper-V bundled with Windows 10 should be even faster, it works on a lower level. Haven't tried it though.