jamesstringer90 / jamesstringer90/appsandbox

Feature Request: Custom Installation Directory and VM Export/Import Functionality

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#68 5 comments 4 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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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:

  1. 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).
  2. Export/Import Feature: Introduce an official way to export a VM (bundling the .vhdx and .json configs) and import it back on a fresh install or a different machine.
    Thanks for your hard work on this!

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. 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

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