Installer Stub to allow calling it and always getting the current version to install during Windows Sandbox Spinups?

Bill Connell

Hi. I’ve been using windows Sandbox for many years now to do things online. Kind of like another layer of defense from malware exploits if going to a compromised website, and who knows which sites got hacked today.
Today I was thinking it sure would be nice to have a Notepad on Windows Sandbox. For some reason Windows Sandbox doesn’t even include a notepad which always seemed odd, they include windows Backup which is even more odd…

I recently started using the Firefox stub app to always have the newest Firefox installed and that is working perfectly. For many years I was downloading the standalone version and replacing it in the Sandbox Folder to get a close to newest versions. That stub was a god send. No more downloading the file and renaming it so my sandboxconfig.bat file called it each time I . Now I just call the stub and it downloads and installs the newest each time I need a sandbox.

My question is this: Does Notepad++ have a similar stub program I can call each time I spin up a Sandbox? That would be an aw-sum thing to have in a sandbox vm. Thanks, Bill

PeterJones

@Bill-Connell ,

Does Notepad++ have a similar stub program I can call each time I spin up a Sandbox?

There is currently no stub installer for Notepad++ (assuming, by “stub program”, you mean a mini installer which just downloads and installs the most recent Notepad++ installer)

For it to work in your sandbox, does it have to be an executable? Or could it be a script (like a .ps1 file). Because a stub-like process could be to send a request to https://notepad-plus-plus.org/update/getDownloadUrl.php?version=8&param=x64 to get an XML result which will give the URL to the most recent 64-bit installer that has triggered auto-update, and then grab the installer from the URL in that XML, and then run that to install the lasted auto-update version.

If a powershell script would work, someone who was interested could probably hack one up for you (I’ve not done a lot with powershell, but I think I could figure out something, given a bit of time).

Nicholas

winget install Notepad++.Notepad++

I think the sandbox has winget. It has been a while since I have used it. Use -i if you want to select install options.