qubes-doc/DisposableVms.md

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Using Disposable VMs

Background

See ​this article for a background on why would one want to use a Disposable VM and what it is.

Opening a file in a Disposable VM (via GUI)

In some AppVM, right click on the file you wish to open in a Disposable VM (in the Nautilus file manager), then choose Scripts -> Open in Disposable VM. Wait a few seconds and an default application for this file type should appear displaying the file content. This app is running in a whole new VM -- a disposable VM created for the purpose of view this very file. Once you close the viewing application then whole Disposable VM will get destroyed.

![No image "r1-open-in-dispvm-1.png" attached to DisposableVms](/chrome/common/attachment.png "No image "r1-open-in-dispvm-1.png" attached to DisposableVms") ![No image "r1-open-in-dispvm-2.png" attached to DisposableVms](/chrome/common/attachment.png "No image "r1-open-in-dispvm-2.png" attached to DisposableVms")

Opening a fresh web browser instance in a new Disposable VM

Sometimes it is convenient to open a fresh instance of Firefox within a new fresh Disposable VM. This can be easily done by using the Start Menu: just go to Start -> Disposable VM -> Firefox and wait a few seconds until a web browser starts. Once you close the viewing application then whole Disposable VM will get destroyed.

![No image "r1-open-in-dispvm-3.png" attached to DisposableVms](/chrome/common/attachment.png "No image "r1-open-in-dispvm-3.png" attached to DisposableVms")

Opening a file in a Disposable VM via command line (from AppVM)

Use the qvm-open-in-dvm command line (from your AppVM), e.g.:

[user@work-pub ~]$ qvm-open-in-dvm Downloads/apple-sandbox.pdf

The qvm-open-in-dvm will not exit until you close the application in the Disposable VM.

Starting an arbitrary application in a disposable VM via command line (from Dom0)

Note: Normally there should be no need for doing this -- this is just for Qubes hackers ;)

[joanna@dom0 applications]$ echo gnome-terminal | /usr/lib/qubes/qfile-daemon-dvm qubes.VMShell dom0 DEFAULT red

In fact the Disposable VM appmenu used for starting Firefox contains a very similar command to the above. Please note, however, that it generally makes little sense to start any other application other than a Web Browser this way...