When you turn on Sandbox in Windows 11, you enable a lightweight, isolated desktop environment to safely run applications. The sandbox environment is completely isolated and remains “sandboxed” and runs separately from the host machine. There’s no communication between the host (Windows 11) and the Sandbox environment. Every time Windows Sandbox runs, it’s as clean as a brand-new installation of Windows. When you are done, the desktop environment is discarded. Since the Windows sandbox environment is isolated, you cannot use a printer installed on the host (Windows 11). If you need to print from the sandbox environment, you will need to share the host printer with the sandbox. Below is how to do that in Windows 11.
How to turn on or off printer sharing with sandbox in Windows 11
As described above, when you turn on Sandbox in Windows 11, you enable a lightweight, isolated desktop environment to safely run applications. Below the sandbox is isolated, you can’t print from it. If you want to print, you must enable printer sharing between the host and sandboxed environment. Below is how to do that. First, open Local Group Policy Editor by clicking on the Start Menu and searching for Edit group policy as highlighted below. Under Best match, select Edit group policy to launch Local Group Policy Editor. In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, expand the tree: In the Windows Sandbox details pane on the right, locate and double-click the setting that says “Allow printer sharing with Windows Sandbox“. On the Allow printer sharing with Windows Sandbox window, set the option to Not Configure, Enabled, or Disabled.
Not Configured (default) Enabled – host printers will be shared into Windows Sandbox. Disabled – Sandbox will not view printers from the host.
Enable or disable printer sharing with sandbox via Windows Registry
If you can’t open the Local Group Policy Editor, you can use the Windows Registry instead. Open the Windows Registry, and navigate to the folder key path as listed below. If you don’t see the Sandbox folder key, simply right-click on the Windows key, then create a subfolder key called Sandbox. On the right pane of the Sandbox folder key, right-click and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value. Type a new key named AllowPrinterRedirection. Double-click the new key and enter the Value data as 1 to enable sharing between the host and the sandbox environment. A 0 value data or simply deleting the key will disable sharing between the host and sandbox environment. That should do it! Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-sandbox/windows-sandbox-overview Conclusion: This post showed you how to enable printer sharing between the host and sandbox environment in Windows 11. If you find any error above or have something to add, please use the comment form below.
