How to setup your free Windows Sandbox

To set up a sandbox we recommend VMware Workstation Pro from Broadcom.

• It is a free software product.

The host (your machine) must be a physical machine with at least 48 GB of memory (The absolute minimum is 32GB memory). Running this sandbox inside another virtual machine (nested virtualisation) is not recommended, and the host needs enough RAM to comfortably run both itself and the 32 GB guest at the same time. It is recommended to configure the VM with 1 processor, 8 cores, and 32 GB of memory. If your host only has 32 GB of memory, set it to 16 GB — but that is the minimum non-performance configuration.

VMWare Workstation is incompatible with Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) so you need to uninstall that if present on your machine before you install. After the installation read this article follow the optimization instructions.

To download:

Go to the Broadcom support page Create a free account and log in. Use the direct download link here

VMware Workstation Pro for Windows 26H1

Below hash values are copied from Broadcom’s site. Please verify yourself for the version you choose. SHA2: a0ef9087607d9cad20b08139e73e41242e044ad5bd8cee141d3bad314586737f MD5: 83f9b6cc7cf0e74ad3b15ccca27860af

Alternatively, you can download here at VMwaredesktop.com and confirm the MD5 and SHA2 against Broadcom’s published values for the installer. This way you do not need to wait for account approval.

Here is a simple PowerShell script to generate the SHA2 and MD5 hash values for your downloaded installer, to use for a security comparison to make sure the downloaded file has not been altered in any way.

# generate SHA2 and MD5 for a file
param([Parameter(Mandatory)][string]$Path)
"MD5    : " + (Get-FileHash $Path -Algorithm MD5).Hash
"SHA256 : " + (Get-FileHash $Path -Algorithm SHA256).Hash

Creating the virtual machine

First download a Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft. Then, in VMware Workstation Pro:

• Choose File → New Virtual Machine to launch the wizard.
• Select Typical (recommended) and click Next.
• On the guest OS source screen, choose Installer disc image file (iso), browse to your Windows 11 ISO, and click Next.
• Give the virtual machine a name and a location on your host disk, then click Next.
• Set the disk size (60 GB or more is comfortable for a Windows 11 sandbox) and keep Store virtual disk as a single file, then click Next.
• Click Customize Hardware and set the memory to 32GB (16GB if your host only has 32GB) and raise the CPU cores to 8. Windows 11 also requires a TPM; if the wizard does not add one automatically, encrypt the VM and add a Trusted Platform Module under VM → Settings → Options → Access Control / Hardware.
• Click Finish. The VM powers on and boots the ISO, and you proceed through Windows setup.

Before you start the Windows installation, have the following ready:

• A valid Windows license key, if you intend to activate the guest.
• The credentials for the Microsoft account you want to sign in with during setup.

During setup, when the installer asks for a product key, you can either enter your key or select “I don’t have a product key” to skip it. Skipping is fully supported: Windows installs and runs normally in an unactivated state with no time limit, and core functionality — including Windows Update — keeps working.

The trade-off of skipping the key is mostly cosmetic. After the grace period an “Activate Windows” watermark appears in the bottom-right corner of the desktop, and some personalization options (themes, accent colours, lock screen) stay locked until you activate. For a throwaway test sandbox this is usually fine; you can enter a key later under Settings → System → Activation whenever you want.

Installing VMware Tools

VMware Tools is a set of drivers and utilities that give the guest proper display resolution, smooth mouse movement, a shared clipboard, and drag-and-drop / folder sharing between host and guest. Install it once Windows is up and running:

• Make sure the VM is powered on and you are logged in to Windows with an administrator account.
• From the Workstation Pro menu bar, choose VM → Install VMware Tools. (If a version is already present, the item reads Update VMware Tools instead.)
• This mounts the VMware Tools ISO as a virtual CD/DVD inside the guest. If AutoPlay is on, the wizard starts by itself; if not, open File Explorer in the guest, open the DVD Drive, and run setup.exe.
• Choose the Typical installation and follow the prompts to the end.
• When prompted, restart the guest so the new drivers take effect.

Updating and snapshotting

After Windows is installed:

• Run Windows Update (Settings → Windows Update → Check for updates) repeatedly until no further updates are offered — it often takes several rounds and reboots to fully catch up.
• Confirm VMware Tools is installed and the guest has rebooted into a clean, working state.

When the machine is fully patched and in a known-good state, take a snapshot:

• With the VM selected, choose VM → Snapshot → Take Snapshot from the menu bar.
• Give it a clear name (for example “Clean Win11 + updates + Tools”) and an optional description, then click Take Snapshot.

A snapshot freezes the exact state of the virtual machine so you can roll back to it at any time — for instance after testing an installer, running a suspect file, or otherwise dirtying the environment. To rewind later, choose VM → Snapshot → Snapshot Manager, select the snapshot, and click Go To. This is the single most useful habit for a malware/test sandbox: dirty the VM, inspect, then rewind to the snapshot and you are instantly back to a pristine machine.