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I downloaded a program called LoginMgr. As with all programs, on first run I ran it in Sandboxie. I got a message box with this message:

Sorry, this application cannot run under a Virtual Machine.

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I have friends who use it and there are plenty of reviews online that say it's not a virus. But it just seems wrong.

Jon
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  • There are reasons for some applications to deny being run in VMs. What program are we talking about specifically? – gronostaj Nov 21 '13 at 00:38
  • It's a program my friend is trying to run called [mapleninja](http://mapleninja.us/). He isn't able to get it so he's trying to get me to help him. The website looks a bit fake so I'm pretty cautious about this. – Jon Nov 21 '13 at 00:42
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    I wouldn't trust that thing as far as I could throw it. – Michael Hampton Nov 21 '13 at 00:52

1 Answers1

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There is a number of reason, often having to do with making sure the program's memory or code isn't tampered with. Two I can think of from the top of my head:

  • Copy protection. Some programs do not want you to be able to edit (or debug) the code to bypass copy protection.
  • Cheat protection. Since this is a game, this is a likely reason. Running it in a virtual machine would make it easier to transparently edit values in the games memory without being detected.
  • Performance. An application should generally not do this, but the programmers might have decided that running in a VM gives poor performance, such as input to screen latency, and disallows running in a VM for this reason.

Of course, just because there are legitimate reasons that the program doesn't run in a VM, doesn't mean that it is actually safe. As always, proceed with caution.

nitro2k01
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