How to Enable or Disable Audio and Video Input with Sandbox in Windows 11

This article describes steps one can take to turn on or off audio (ex: microphone) and video (ex: camera) input from the host into the Sandbox in Windows 11.

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.

By default, audio (ex: microphone) and video (ex: camera) input from the host to the Windows Sandbox are not permitted. If you need to use a microphone or camera within the sandboxed environment you will need to allow audio and video input.

Below is how to do that in Windows 11.

How to turn on or off audio and video input between host and sandbox in Windows 11

As described above, by default, audio (ex: microphone) and video (ex: camera) input from the host to the Windows Sandbox are not permitted. If you need to use a microphone or camera within the sandboxed environment you will need to allow audio and video input.

Below is how to enable or disable these features in Windows 11.

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.

windows 11 edit group policy
windows 11 edit group policy

In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, expand the tree: 

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Sandbox

In the Windows Sandbox details pane on the right, locate and double-click the settings that say “Allow audio input Windows Sandbox” and “Allow video input in Windows Sandbox“.

windows 11 allow video and audio input sandbox
windows 11 allow video and audio input sandbox

On the Allow audio input in Windows Sandbox and Allow video input in Windows Sandbox windows, set the option to Not ConfigureEnabled, or Disabled.

  • Not Configured (default)
  • Enabled  – Windows Sandbox will receive audio and video input from the user on the host.
  • Disabled – Windows Sandbox will not be able to receive audio and video input from the host.
windows 11 allow video and audio input sandbox options window
Windows 11 allow video and audio input sandbox options window

Enable or disable audio and video input 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.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Sandbox
windows 11 enable disable printer sharing with sandbox registry
Windows 11 enables disabling printer sharing with thsandboxedox registry

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 AllowAudioInput and AllowVideoInput.

Double-click the new keys and enter the Value data as 1 to enable audio and video between the host and the sandbox environment.

A 0-value data or simply deleting the key will disable audio and video input between the host and the sandbox environment.

windows 11 allow audio and video input windows registry
Windows 11 allow audio and video input windows registry

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 audio and video input from the host to the sandbox environment in Windows 11. If you find any error above or have something to add, please use the comment form below.