Will Sandboxie work for this?

[gjsmith]

My OS is Win 7 Pro - 64 bit.

A mainstream accounting application (Peachtree... now Sage 50) conflicts with another software program that I use. Installation of one breaks the other. The man conflict is what is written in the registry by Peachtree. DLL conflicts may also be present, but both programs will *mostly* function if app 1 is installed and the registry is copied and restored after the installation of Peachtree.

So given this, can I use Sandboxie to install Peachtree Accounting and keep it's registry settings and DLLs from mucking up my other application?

If yes, then how would I email files from Peachtree given that my email program is outside the sandbox?

Thanks,
Greg

[tzuk]

Sounds like something you need to try to see if it works. And please be sure to backup your important data.

[gjsmith]

Thanks for the reply Tzuk. From everything I read about Sandboxie, I would think that it would work to isolate the installation of the conflicting app. Afterall, that is the main purpose of Sandboxie, right?

So given this, my main question is how would one get the data from the sandbox to the outside world? Could files be copied by the user to a location outside the sandbox, or would a workaround be needed like emailing via webmail from inside the sandbox?

Thanks again,
Greg

[Guest10]

The first thing to try is to use the Sandboxie Control menu:
Sandbox > Create New Sandbox > name it something appropriate (like Peachtree)

Right-click the installer for Peachtree and then click "Run Sandboxed"
Select the new sandbox and see if the program will install and run correctly.
Not all programs will run correctly, especially if they need to install a driver.

If successful, then any Registry entries that Peachtree writes will actually be confined to the sandbox, and will not affect the existing Registry entries that are outside of the sandbox.

At that point you will need to identify the files or folders that you want to recover from the sandbox.
There are sandbox settings that can be used to Recover files out of the sandbox, or you can just copy them using something like (unsandboxed) Windows Explorer, but first see if the program will run if it's installed in a sandbox.

[gjsmith]

Thanks for the tips Paul! I'm going to try it. Assuming that Peachtree will install and run properly in a sandbox...

I'm also assuming that I can keep Peachtree running *permanently* in its sandbox, since I know that WILL conflict (registry settings for sure and maybe DLLs) with my other application if it is not isolated. That is not a problem with Sandboxie is it (ie. having a permanent sandbox for a specific application)?

I am also excited to try it for web surfing and download testing in temporary sandboxes.

This looks well worth the price of registration.

Thanks again for your input and insight,
Greg

[Guest10]

I'm also assuming that I can keep Peachtree running *permanently* in its sandbox, since I know that WILL conflict (registry settings for sure and maybe DLLs) with my other application if it is not isolated. That is not a problem with Sandboxie is it (ie. having a permanent sandbox for a specific application)?

No. There's no problem at all. You will want to enable delete protection for the sandbox.
Sandbox Settings > Delete > Delete Invocation
"Never remove this sandbox or ..."
That won't keep other programs from deleting the sandbox, but Sandboxie won't delete it as long as that's selected.
Be careful if you use CCleaner. There's a setting for "Sandboxie" in it that can wipe out all files in your sandboxes if it's used.

I am also excited to try it for web surfing and download testing in temporary sandboxes.

I don't see how anyone can surf the Internet without having their browser sandboxed.
And, you don't need to purchase a Sandboxie license to try installing the program in a sandbox.
The program allows you to create and use a virtually unlimited number of sandboxes, but it does limit you to using them one at a time without purchasing a license.
I definitely recommend the Lifetime license instead of the one year license, because there's no upgrade from the 1 year to the lifetime license.

[gjsmith]

Well, Peachtree installed and ran GREAT in a sandbox. I closed and reopened it a few times and no issues. Ran reports and added data. Then.... it told me that my data folder was not a Peachtree data folder. Data appeared intact and another copy from the original source didn't help. A reinstall of the app didn't help. I ended up reseting the "don't delete" switch and wiping the sandbox.

I think that Peachtree broke after rebooting the laptop. Anyway, I checked the services in the sandbox and found that the Pervasive DB service (db used by Peachtree) was stopped. I restarted it and still no-go. Maybe Peachtree is too complex for a sandbox. It installs the Pervasive DB and service and writes tons of DLLs and reg values all over.

So my huge high ended in a big let down. Soooooo close...

All that being said, Sandboxie is a VERY cool app. I will likely use it for web research surfing, but it doesn't look like it will fix my problem of the conflict beteen Peachtree and my core app that I need.

Any suggestions would be welcome, if it sounds like I made an implementation mistake or missed something.

Cheers,
Greg

[Peter2150]

Well, Peachtree installed and ran GREAT in a sandbox. I closed and reopened it a few times and no issues. Ran reports and added data. Then.... it told me that my data folder was not a Peachtree data folder. Data appeared intact and another copy from the original source didn't help. A reinstall of the app didn't help. I ended up reseting the "don't delete" switch and wiping the sandbox.

I think that Peachtree broke after rebooting the laptop. Anyway, I checked the services in the sandbox and found that the Pervasive DB service (db used by Peachtree) was stopped. I restarted it and still no-go. Maybe Peachtree is too complex for a sandbox. It installs the Pervasive DB and service and writes tons of DLLs and reg values all over.

So my huge high ended in a big let down. Soooooo close...

All that being said, Sandboxie is a VERY cool app. I will likely use it for web research surfing, but it doesn't look like it will fix my problem of the conflict beteen Peachtree and my core app that I need.

Any suggestions would be welcome, if it sounds like I made an implementation mistake or missed something.

Cheers,
Greg

Hi Greg

I thnk your problem is just that Sandboxie really isn't a Virtual machine, which is what you need for what you are trying to do. It may work in a lot of instances, but that isn't really what it was designed to do. You might try some of the free virtual machines, but if it is really critical then VMware is the cadillac.

Pete

[gjsmith]

Thank you Peter for pointing out the obvious! I'm now saying DUH to myself. My last PC was Vista, so I didn't even think about XP Mode that is included in my new Win7 Pro OS. Peachtree runs great as a published VM app with what I already have and it no longer conflicts with my other core apps.

So my problem is solved and in the meantime, I found Sandboxie to use for web research/surfing!

Thank you again all, for your help and suggestions. This is a great site and web community.

Greg

[Username]

As for me I would contact the software vendor/s for clarification about the reason of such incompatibility.

However there're still a few moments to check. Say. whether it really matters which app is installed first or which is 'real' or 'sandboxed', Anyway, I would recommend also checking 'Block Process Access' at the Contributed Utilities section--sometimes it really what the doctor ordered) Yet not always.

Not sure about the conflict of accounting software, but I remember using two separate user accounts with quickswitch enabled to mitigate some software issues--being run as different users' apps they did work alright.

Cheers