jamesstringer90 / jamesstringer90/appsandbox
Feature Request: Custom Installation Directory and VM Export/Import Functionality
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- Dominant language
- C
- Stars
- 704
- Forks
- 75
- Avg merge
- 9m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 6
Description
Hello! First of all, thank you for this incredible project. It's a game-changer for GPU-PV and nested virtualization workloads without the hassle of Hyper-V Manager.
Currently, the VMs are stored in default system paths (like C:\ProgramData\AppSandbox or %LocalAppData%). These .vhdx files can quickly grow to dozens of gigabytes. For users with limited C: drive SSD space, or those who want to keep their VMs on a secondary drive, this becomes an issue.
Additionally, while the Snapshot feature is fantastic for state rollbacks, there is currently no straightforward way to migrate a "golden" VM to another physical device, or back it up safely before an OS format.
Proposed Solutions:
- Custom Storage Path: Add an option in the GUI/CLI to select the default installation/storage directory for new VMs (e.g.,
D:\AppSandbox_VMs). - Export/Import Feature: Introduce an official way to export a VM (bundling the
.vhdxand.jsonconfigs) and import it back on a fresh install or a different machine.
Thanks for your hard work on this!
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by locating the GUI/CLI code that chooses default VM storage paths and manages the .vhdx and .json files. Trace how new VMs are created and restored; done should include configurable storage for new VMs plus a reliable export/import flow that works on another machine or fresh installation.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- c
- Domain
- infrastructure, operating-systems
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100