diff --git a/checkin_notes b/checkin_notes
index eb92e2ad40..354c638533 100644
--- a/checkin_notes
+++ b/checkin_notes
@@ -7608,3 +7608,13 @@ Charlie 21 Oct 2011
             sg_BoincSimpleFrame.cpp,.h
             sg_DlgMessages.cpp,.h
             sg_DlgPreferences.cpp,.h
+
+Rom    21 Oct 2011
+    - VBOX: Don't redirect VirtualBox to a different directory structure for
+        the root configuration file when the client is NOT in sandbox mode.
+        Doing so could cause confusion if the volunteer uses VirtualBox for
+        any of their own work.  If BOINC started up first it would have appeared
+        that their own VM's no longer existed.
+        
+    samples/vboxwrapper/
+        vbox.cpp
diff --git a/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox.cpp b/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox.cpp
index 76905524cb..063aca7cc2 100644
--- a/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox.cpp
+++ b/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox.cpp
@@ -416,29 +416,31 @@ int VBOX_VM::initialize() {
     // Set the location in which the VirtualBox Configuration files can be
     // stored for this instance.
     //
-    virtualbox_user_home = aid.project_dir;
-    virtualbox_user_home += "/../virtualbox";
+    if (aid.using_sandbox) {
+        virtualbox_user_home = aid.project_dir;
+        virtualbox_user_home += "/../virtualbox";
 
-    if (!boinc_file_exists(virtualbox_user_home.c_str())) boinc_mkdir(virtualbox_user_home.c_str());
+        if (!boinc_file_exists(virtualbox_user_home.c_str())) boinc_mkdir(virtualbox_user_home.c_str());
 
 #ifdef _WIN32
-    if (!SetEnvironmentVariable("VBOX_USER_HOME", const_cast<char*>(virtualbox_user_home.c_str()))) {
-        fprintf(
-            stderr,
-            "%s Failed to modify the search path.\n",
-            boinc_msg_prefix(buf, sizeof(buf))
-        );
-    }
+        if (!SetEnvironmentVariable("VBOX_USER_HOME", const_cast<char*>(virtualbox_user_home.c_str()))) {
+            fprintf(
+                stderr,
+                "%s Failed to modify the search path.\n",
+                boinc_msg_prefix(buf, sizeof(buf))
+            );
+        }
 #else
-    // putenv does not copy its input buffer, so we must use setenv
-    if (setenv("VBOX_USER_HOME", const_cast<char*>(virtualbox_user_home.c_str()), 1)) {
-        fprintf(
-            stderr,
-            "%s Failed to modify the VBOX_USER_HOME path.\n",
-            boinc_msg_prefix(buf, sizeof(buf))
-        );
-    }
+        // putenv does not copy its input buffer, so we must use setenv
+        if (setenv("VBOX_USER_HOME", const_cast<char*>(virtualbox_user_home.c_str()), 1)) {
+            fprintf(
+                stderr,
+                "%s Failed to modify the VBOX_USER_HOME path.\n",
+                boinc_msg_prefix(buf, sizeof(buf))
+            );
+        }
 #endif
+    }
 
     return 0;
 }