.Bat + Browser + Virtual Machine = Secure?

[TechMasterMind]

Can you use a bat file to launch a virtual machine whenever you launch your browser? Or is there simply a quick way to setup a virtual machine?

[Mr.McMister]

It's definitely possible to use batch to launch two separate programs with arguments set for the VM to auto launch the image. It's unclear, though, what you intend to accomplish with this from your post. Can you elaborate?

[TechMasterMind]

Because I'm very forgetful (I'm no expert btw) I would simply like to write a batch file so that when say I launch firefox on my desktop it will 'open' a virtual machine so that I'm hopefully in better safety from what comes my way be it me being nosy or protection from viruses. But since from what I understand launching virtual machines has a significant impact on performance so I don't think going so far as launching online games on VMs unless it really doesn't effect performance or security that much?

[Mr.McMister]

If you're really worried about security in that fashion you're best off just using chrome as it sandboxes each tab without the need for a vm and will still leave you with access to your files on your drive when you need to upload something through a web interface.

 

Though, if you still want the further protection from viruses that a VM provides then you can set firefox to run on startup in your VM and capture a state of the machine where firefox is running then restore to that state each time you use it. Each VM program will have it's own arguments for launch so you'll have to look that up. The problem is you'll need a second windows license for the VM or run linux and you'll have to contend with the extra overhead of a second OS running as well as limited ram to the size you set for your VM.

 

 

[TechMasterMind]

8 hours ago, Mr.McMister said:

If you're really worried about security in that fashion you're best off just using chrome as it sandboxes each tab without the need for a vm and will still leave you with access to your files on your drive when you need to upload something through a web interface.

 

Though, if you still want the further protection from viruses that a VM provides then you can set firefox to run on startup in your VM and capture a state of the machine where firefox is running then restore to that state each time you use it. Each VM program will have it's own arguments for launch so you'll have to look that up. The problem is you'll need a second windows license for the VM or run linux and you'll have to contend with the extra overhead of a second OS running as well as limited ram to the size you set for your VM.

 

 

Ok thanks a million but... can it be done and do you know how?

[Mr.McMister]

You won't need a bat file for this as you can use a simple windows shortcut. First install virtual box, then create a new vm, install your OS and set firefox to launch on startup. After you've done that you can create a shortcut to virtualbox and in the properties for the shortcut add

--startvm <vmname> --seamless

to the end of the target line. Replace vmname with the name of you vm. This should start the vm and automatically set it to seamless mode so it looks as if the applications in the vm are running natively on the host OS. Instead of shutting down the VM you can set virtualbox to save it's state on close and it will resume from that state next time it's launched. Replace icon for the shortcut with firefox icon and rename shortcut to firefox if desired.