What software?
Anyway you can use QEMU https://computernewb.com/wiki/QEMU/Guests/Windows_11 or rent a VPS for the duration of your testing, assuming there is hardware related.
this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2025
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The safest cheap option is to buy a used old laptop, and run it on a VM there. Using a VPN over someone else's wifi.
Windows sandbox like everyone else is saying is a great answer, but bear in mind if you’re sufficiently paranoid or security conscious that many, many exploits exist to escape VMs and sandboxes. Esxi and cell phones pretty much made that happen.
Keeping a cheap old computer to run weird bullshit on isn’t a terrible choice if you’re truly worried about it.
Windows literally has a VM build in for this purpose.
Called Windows Sandbox.
Virtualbox is free. I hate it, but it definitely works at no cost. VMware Workstation is also free.
Edit: without double-checking to make sure I'm saying it correctly, you probably want to avoid a bridged network and assign one of the other types of network adapters for separation of network devices, but you'll have to search the terminology to find details.
VirtualBox or any other hypervisor is good choice but keep in mind that some malware can escape VMs. Check your threat model and keep everything upto date.
Windows has a built-in feature for this
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.
I bet the downvotes are because it's not helpful to OP.
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 11 comes with a sandbox utility ootb, just need to enable it in windows features.
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
Windows sandbox is easy.
Alternative: install Proxmox on the hardware. Then install all the OSes you want to run on top of that.
I'm a Proxmox user and this is the wrong use of it. Proxmox is for hosting multiple VMs, not a solution for needing one.
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