Sandboxie

Sandboxie Plus (fork)^[a]

Sandboxie Plus running two sandboxes. ("DefaultBox" is running four apps: Dusk, Firefox, LibreOffice, and qBittorrent; while the "Safe" sandbox is inactive)
Original author(s)	Ronen Tzur[1]
Developer(s)	David Xanatos[2]
Initial release	26 June 2004; 20 years ago (2004-06-26)
Stable release	Plus 1.14.10, Classic 5.69.10 / 3 October 2024; 29 days ago (2024-10-03)[3]
Repository	github.com/sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie
Written in	C, C++
Operating system	Windows 7 and later
Platform	IA-32, x86-64 and ARM64
Size	2.2–19.9 MB
Available in	+18 languages[4]
Type	Security software
License	Classic: GPL-3.0-or-later,[5] Nagware[6] Plus: Custom-made,[7] Open-core model,[8] Nagware[9]
Website	sandboxie-plus.com

Sandboxie is an open-source OS-level virtualization solution for Microsoft Windows.^[10][11][12] It is a sandboxing solution that creates an isolated operating environment in which applications can run without permanently modifying the local system.^[10][13] This virtual environment allows for controlled testing of untrusted programs and web surfing.^[13][14][15]

After various ownership transitions (Sophos^[16][17][18] acquired Invincea^[1][19][20] which acquired Sandboxie from the original author, Ronen Tzur), Sophos eventually dropped support and released the code as open-source.^[21] The day after the Sophos announcement, a third-party developer known as David Xanatos forked the open-source project^[a][2][22] and expanded it later with Sandboxie Plus.^[23]

Sandboxie was initially released in 2004 as a tool for sandboxing Internet Explorer. Over time, the program was expanded to support other web browsers and eventually, arbitrary apps.^[24]

In December 2013, Invincea announced the acquisition of Sandboxie.^[1] The original developer Ronen Tzur further announced he would no longer be involved with the program.^[19][20]

In February 2017, Sophos announced the acquisition of Invincea.^[16][17][18] Invincea posted an assurance in Sandboxie's website that for the time being Sandboxie's development and support would continue as normal.^[25]

Version 4.02 introduced support for Windows 64-bit^[26] with the exception of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, which was never supported.^[27]

Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista SP2 were supported up to version 5.22, after which their support was dropped.^[28][29] In September 2019, Sandboxie version 5.31.4 was released under a freeware license "with plans to transition it to an open source tool". The previous commercial license still applied to customers with active licenses until their license expired.^[30]

In April 2019, the official site was shut down, preventing downloads, installations and purchases, which prompted the creation of a temporary forum in the company's own domain.^[31]

In May 2019, the official site returned with the original forums permanently shut down in favor of Sophos' own forums,^[31] which were later shut down as well.^[32] Between May and September 2019 (when Sandboxie became freeware), the purchase options were still missing.^[30]

In response to the announcement of the closure of the Sandboxie website, software developer David Berdik scraped the site's contents and published the archive on GitHub on May 10, 2020.^[33]

In April 2020, Sophos released the source code (as the source code-only version 5.40^[34]) under the GPL 3.0+ license. Sophos stated that they would no longer be involved in the development of Sandboxie and that the open-source community would have to continue development instead.^[21]

Sandboxie Plus is a fork of the original open-source code^[21] and provides two editions of Sandboxie: Plus and Classic.^[22]

Sandboxie Plus has been in development since early 2020,^[23] while the first stable version was made available on 25 December 2021.^[35] It includes numerous improvements:

• ability for more granular access control rules
• privacy mode sandboxes that protect user data from illegitimate access
• app compartment mode that provides less isolation but higher compatibility
• per-sandbox network firewall based on Windows Filtering Platform
• modern Qt-based UI with dark mode and built-in support for many advanced options
• per-sandbox snapshots
• a hardened lockdown mode
• support for ARM64-based platforms (starting with v1.5.0) ^[36]

Although the Classic edition lacks native interface support for Plus features, both editions offer the same security and compatibility fixes. While they remain free for private non-commercial use, a few of the newly developed features are only available to project supporters with a valid "supporter certificate".^[37]

Until version 0.4.5, antivirus software, including Microsoft Defender Antivirus, falsely flagged Sandboxie Plus. To clear this false flag, the Sandboxie Plus developer had to pay Microsoft for a digital certificate, which he raised thanks to donors on Patreon.^[38] Version 0.5.0 was the first digitally signed version of Sandboxie Plus.^[39] An exception exists for the pre-release versions,^[b] which are usually not signed to speed up the release process.^[40]

Sandboxie was included in Brothersoft's 2010 Editors Pick list.^[41] In November 2011, Gizmo's Freeware gave Sandboxie a rating of 9 out of 10 stars^[42] and included it in their Editors' Choice List as the "Best Free Browser Protection Utility".^[43] Softonic has given Sandboxie a rating of 8 out of 10 with Elena Santos stating in her review that "Sandboxie is a handy tool to test untrustworthy software without putting your system in danger."^[44]

• Google Native Client (discontinued)
• iCore Virtual Accounts (discontinued)
• Windows SteadyState (discontinued)

• Sandboxie-plus fork: releases and documentation
• Sandboxie: Blocking Web-Based Malware From Your PC at the Wayback Machine (archived 2011-08-14)
• Sandboxie Internals at the Wayback Machine (archived 2013-04-29)
• Buster Sandbox Analyzer (third-party tool to use with Sandboxie)
• SandboxToys2 fork (third-party tool to use with Sandboxie)