Sandboxie Plus (Sbie fork)

Discussion in 'Sandboxie (SBIE Open Source) Plus & Classic' started by DavidXanatos, Apr 9, 2020.

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  1. bjm_

    bjm_ Registered Member

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    Thanks
     
  2. Monica2000

    Monica2000 Registered Member

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    I run every program i can sandboxed, so i am a hardcore user, and 5.44 version worked "fine" during the last 3 days on Windows 20H2.

    I wrote "fine" because a i'm still suffering some nasty problems introduced during the last Windows / Sandboxie versions.

    1. Steam installed insided a sandbox can't update games located outside (another hard drive) with full write permissions. No problem with Steam using Win 1903 version.

    2. Uplay/Uconnect can't log in installed inside a sandbox. I can on Windows 7 host, for example. On Windows 10 i can´t since that Sophos upgrade fixing Hotmail logins. At the same time I can´ t play my Origin games because something is wrong with the Internet access.

    3. Some programs consumes 100% of cpu power when i run them using desktop shortcuts created with Sandboxie. If i run those programs double clicking the main executable inside sandbox folders, they work fine.

    These are my main issues using Sandboxie at this moment.
     
  3. Buster_BSA

    Buster_BSA Registered Member

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    @DavidXanatos What are the advantages of moving injection\hooking mechanisms from SbieSvc to SbieDll?
     
  4. DavidXanatos

    DavidXanatos Developer

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    It makes those mechanisms driver/service independent.

    I would like to create a fully portable version of Sandboxie that is one that does not need a driver at all. Sure it goes without saying that by running in that mode you will loose the security guarantees the driver would provide. Howe ever I believe that the use cases for such a mode of operation are not security but rather application virtualization so it does not matter.

    I think for the virtualization use case generally a less restrictive mode of operation would be very helpful, many users as it seams use SBie rather to run multiple instances of an application that only wants to be run once, or to run games in, for whatever purpose, surely not security, or to capture installations turning non portable applications portable, etc....

    On an other tangent being able to run applications in less restrictive configurations can help to identify where a particular incompatibility originates from.
     
  5. Mr.X

    Mr.X Registered Member

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    I like your idea, I'd like to see this portable come true. Actually most of my portable programs I use to run sandboxed are for virtualization purposes. Oh man, I love the idea. Just keep the current fork and original svie alive.
     
  6. soccerfan

    soccerfan Registered Member

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    Excellent idea! Thank you.
     
  7. zmechys

    zmechys Registered Member

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    I've installed Sandboxie v 5.44 on my three Windows 10 computers.
    Two computers show Version 5.44.0. Excellent.
    My third computer shows that I've installed version 5.43.6
    I've tried to install version 5.44 four times. I've rebooted my computer 3 times, but it's still Version 5.43.6.

    Sandboxie01.PNG Sandboxie.PNG
     
  8. algol1

    algol1 Registered Member

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    Hello again,
    I just felt courageous enough to install the experimental new version 5.44.0 on my W10forWorkstations_2004build.

    For some reason it took 2 times to install. At first run the install routine insisted to uninstall a "classical version found" initially - but then obviously failed to install the new version afterwards. Because when I tried to start the browser after install I got messages that the sandboxie-service was not running and then that there was no driver installed either.

    There is obviously still an issue with the path-entry in the installer routine because it always will propose "Program Files\Sandboxie" while mine is located somewhere else. So I again ran the installer with entering my actual path once again - and this time there were no more complaints about uninstalling an old version first and the new one seemingly was installed successfully now.

    However - is it only me who stumbled upon this? The browser will start sandboxed - but the by now famous red-dotted yellow sandboxie-tray-icon is gone !!?

    Instead I found a hidden new tray-icon looking like a purple bowl with or without some content that will open the new user-interface. But the problem is not only the icon. While I really would like to get the old characteristic dotted Sandboxie-icon back the new one seems to lack all functionality. I can only exit the program from there which equals shooting oneself in the foot. In case of virus-activity I could no longer quickly terminate all sandboxed programs from the tray or delete the contents of the active sandbox via a right mouse-click. Sure, I can open the UI and do it from there. But the virus may freeze the system in the meantime so that switching to a new window may no longer be possible while terminating everything still should be doable from the tray with just a mouse command.

    And speaking of the new UI: while I can edit the ini-file from there - which I always have done directly with a powerful editor - I was unable to find the powerful graphic front-end-interface to configure all the detailed settings of the current sandbox by choice without having to learn the entire text-control-syntax of sandboxie.

    In short - is there a way to use the improved new version with the old trusted icon and old trusted control-panel with all the functionality that the new interface seems to be missing?
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2020
  9. Radagast70

    Radagast70 Registered Member

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    I'm not experienced in social media, but probably you could change the install-routine of Sandboxie, so that it detects a) OS is Windows 7, and b) Firefox with version greater 83 is installed, so the .INI of Sandboxie gets the needed entries for compatibility from the beginning (OpenIpcPath...).
     
  10. plat

    plat Registered Member

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    An absolutely wonderful idea. I would return to using Sandboxie full time this way. :thumb:
     
  11. bjm_

    bjm_ Registered Member

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    Reads like you've installed Sandboxie-Plus-x64-v0.4.4.exe.
    Do you have Program Files > Sandboxie-Plus folder?
    Or, do you have Program File > Sandboxie folder?
    Look in Sandboxie-Plus folder and find SbieCtrl. See if you can call SbieCtrl....pin SbieCtrl in Taskbar... call Sandboxie Control from Taskbar. Famous red-dotted yellow Sandboxie Control icon will show in tray.
    Or, start over and install SandboxieInstall64-v5.44.0.exe
    https://github.com/sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie/releases/tag/v0.4.4

    Sandboxie-Plus 0.4.4 and Sandboxie 5.44.0 share components. Sandboxie-Plus [new tray-icon looking like a purple bowl with or without some content that will open the new user-interface] installs shared components in Sandboxie-Plus folder. SandboxieInstall installs Sandboxie [with the old trusted icon and old trusted control-panel with all the functionality] in Sandboxie folder.

    I'm running, at this time....Sandboxie 5.44.0 with the famous red-dotted yellow Sandboxie tray icon with the old trusted Sandboxie Control panel with all the functionality.
    png_8086.png
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2020
  12. algol1

    algol1 Registered Member

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    Thanks a lot, bjm, for clearing this up. The thing is - I have neither. I had always installed to "\WINTOOL\Sandboxie" and now I've just updated to that same folder. So I still have a Sandboxie-(without plus)-folder but seemingly with Sandboxie-Plus content.

    Looks like I downloaded the wrong installer-file. I will follow your advice and try again with the correct one.

    If you don't mind - for me 2 questions remain:
    1. Is there any advantage to switch to the new Plus environment with the new UI and the new icon?
    2. Why on earth doesn't the new Plus-tray-icon offer the same basic functionality (apart from any optical "look-and-feel"-preference) as the traditional one - like terminating all processes right from the icon via a right-mouse-click-menu for emergency purposes?
     
  13. DavidXanatos

    DavidXanatos Developer

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    1. The plus UI supports new features, while the classical one does not (you would need to do everything by hand with an ini editor)
    a) The core components of sandboxie Support now Box Snapshots (kind of like what you know from VMWare snapshots), only the Plus UI has the UI for this feature. The plus Build
    b) The Plus release comes with a set of DLL's to log most windows API calls that helps a lot to debug compatibility issues, only the Plus UI opened the appropriate server pipe to capture the log output
    c) The Resoruce monitor UI in the Plus Build is far superior to the UI in the classical build.

    2. Because it does not yet has feature parity i.e. some minor things are missing, If the tray functionality is so important for you I'll add some of it to the next plus build.
     
  14. Wabe6666

    Wabe6666 Registered Member

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    Thank you, David, for the new classical versions 5.43.7 and 5.44.0
    I use WIN10 pro 2004, Firefox an Windows Defender. Update from 5.43.6 to 5.43.7 works fine and I have no issues with this version. But version 5.44.0 is unfortunately mistakenly recognized as a virus by Defender.
     
  15. Wabe6666

    Wabe6666 Registered Member

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    A portable classical version of Sandboxie without need of a driver would be wonderful!
     
  16. algol1

    algol1 Registered Member

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    Hello David,
    thanks a lot for answering to my issue in person so quickly. First and foremost many thanks for your work. I'm certainly one of those guys who appreciate any relevant improvements. While I may have switched "to the better" by accident - now that I know about I would like to keep it that way. To really enjoy this new world there are some minor issues I'd like to bring to your attention.

    1. Regardless of the environment/installer I use there seems to be that path-issue. Even with the old, trusty version of the installer I never have succeeded to install without hick-ups or in a single run without reboot - like in the old Sophos-times. Mostly on the first run the traditional SB-icon would come up with a darker yellow and an exclamation-mark on it. This is NOT an antivirus/certificate-issue as I have whitelisted the SB-folder in my antivirus-program and I also have learned to temporarily disable "virus & threat protection" in Windows-security before SB-installation while the damn "defender" is always off. Still - I have a strong feeling that this is because I never did install to the "Program files\Sandboxie"-folder that will come up again and again as default-entry in the SB-installer-mask, regardless of the installer used, even after correcting it to my true local SB-folder on the initial installation run.

    2. As for the new UI I was confused at first because I could not find its most important feature, the graphical "Default-Box-Settings"-graphical-dialogue in the UI-menu any more. But meanwhile I've found out that it CAN be accessed by right-clicking on the box at issue-icon in the main field instead of the menu. So no problem there. And as for the tray-icon the only really important thing would be the feature to terminate all processes immediately from there - in case of a virus- or threat-emergency, when it is perhaps no longer possible to open the main UI-window because of the virus freezing everything.

    3. For me - and may be others - it would be nice, but is only "cosmetics" and not a necessity, to be able to CHOOSE between the old, trusted, classic SB-icon, even for the new Plus-environment, and the new one. The new icon, I have to say, looks far less distinctive and even a bit pathetic in comparison.

    Many thank for your efforts in advance!
     
  17. bjm_

    bjm_ Registered Member

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    When I run Sandboxie-Plus.
    I may access Sandboxie-Plus UI - Sandbox Manager SandMan and/or Sandboxie Classic UI - Sandboxie Control SbieCtrl.
    > SbieCtrl icon and SandMan icon pinned to Taskbar.
    png_8088.png
    For my daily Sanboxie activity. I'll call SbieCtrl icon.
    For SandMan activity. I'll call SandMan icon.
    SbieCtrl icon may pin in Taskbar alone or along side SandMan icon.
    SbieCtrl icon may run in Sys Tray alone or along side SandMan icon.
    png_8087.png
    Sandboxie-Plus and Sandboxie share components. Sandboxie-Plus installs shared components in Sandboxie-Plus folder.
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2020
  18. DavidXanatos

    DavidXanatos Developer

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    @algol1 the reason I picked a new icon is to enable use cases as @bjm_ has where booth UI's are used
    Also I think it would be somehow impolite just to take the original icon for a new UI, as people will expect a different UI when clicking on it.

    But you are right that the current new icon is still not perfect, I'll try to make something better the main issue is that those icons can only be 16x16 pixel that's very limiting.
    The 'cheap' solution would be to just add a big Plus overlay to the old icon upload_2020-11-8_16-19-49.png upload_2020-11-8_16-19-56.png or upload_2020-11-8_16-21-1.png upload_2020-11-8_16-21-5.png

    what do you think?
     
  19. Wabe6666

    Wabe6666 Registered Member

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    Hi David,
    perhaps an important information for developing 5.44:
    In order to try out the functionality and not affect my real system, I first installed or wanted to install the two new versions in a Windows sandbox. 5.43.7 worked fine and was not recognized as malware. But when I click the 5.44.0-installer nothing happend. No message, no window, no open process in the task manager, no matter whether I use the 32 or 64 installer. Then I ran the 64 installer in a VM, it worked there, but the defender recognized the driver as malware. After I let him in, 5.44 ran. But then I didn't test it any further.
     
  20. Brummelchen

    Brummelchen Registered Member

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    setup still don't recognize previous installations.
     
  21. algol1

    algol1 Registered Member

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    I already have too many tasks pinned to taskbar. But so far I have not figured out how to autostart the SbiCtrl-Icon in system-tray should I decide to stay with true SB-Plus because of the enhancements David has been so kind to explain.
     
  22. bjm_

    bjm_ Registered Member

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    Maybe, try Windows Shell Integration -> Start Sandboxie Control
    png_8089.png
    https://sandboxie-website-archive.github.io/www.sandboxie.com/ConfigureMenu.html#shell
    I've not used either. Just me.
    Sandboxie-Plus and Sandboxie share components. Sandboxie-Plus installs shared components in Sandboxie-Plus folder.
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2020
  23. algol1

    algol1 Registered Member

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    Would do the trick for me. Different, but with the old, trusty recognizability. I'd prefer the dark-blue overlay.

    As for the 2-run-installation-issue I am inclined to blame to a non-standard installation-path as used here - any thoughts so far?
     
  24. algol1

    algol1 Registered Member

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    Good tip. Thanks. Will try.
     
  25. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Sounds very interesting, in the past I also had such an idea based on the fact that most browsers already do their own sandboxing, but a virtualization layer on top would still be nice to have. I'm not sure if you can do virtualization without a driver though, so perhaps my idea is a bit different. But the goal is to avoid incompatibilities between browsers and Sandboxie.

    Great job, those pages look pretty good. :thumb:
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2020
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