How to Configure Windows Sandbox Local Traefik DigestAuth Middleware via XML in Windows 11

Validating HTTP Digest Authentication challenges across reverse proxy gateways requires a clean environment to ensure cryptographic challenge nonces and realm tokens are handled properly. Traefik’s DigestAuth middleware verifies credentials using MD5-based challenge-response hashes without transmitting plaintext passwords. Windows Sandbox in Windows 11 provides a secure, disposable container for validating DigestAuth configurations safely.

Why Test DigestAuth in Windows Sandbox

Digest authentication relies on server-generated nonce values and MD5-hashed credentials structured according to RFC 7616. Testing inside Windows Sandbox ensures that credential testing scripts and nonce regeneration behaviors do not affect host development environments.

Authoring the Windows Sandbox WSB XML

Save the following XML document as TraefikDigestSandbox.wsb on your Windows 11 machine:

<Configuration>
  <VGpu>Default</VGpu>
  <Networking>Default</Networking>
  <MappedFolders>
    <MappedFolder>
      <HostFolder>C:\TraefikDigestLab</HostFolder>
      <SandboxFolder>C:\TraefikDigestLab</SandboxFolder>
      <ReadOnly>true</ReadOnly>
    </MappedFolder>
  </MappedFolders>
  <LogonCommand>
    <Command>powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -NoExit -File C:\TraefikDigestLab\setup-digestauth.ps1</Command>
  </LogonCommand>
</Configuration>

PowerShell Deployment Bootstrapper

Save the bootstrapping script as C:TraefikDigestLabsetup-digestauth.ps1:

Write-Host "Setting up Traefik DigestAuth Lab..." -ForegroundColor Cyan

$Dir = "C:Traefik"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $Dir | Out-Null

$ZipUrl = "https://github.com/traefik/traefik/releases/download/v3.0.0/traefik_v3.0.0_windows_amd64.zip"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $ZipUrl -OutFile "$Dir	raefik.zip"
Expand-Archive -Path "$Dir	raefik.zip" -DestinationPath $Dir -Force

# Generated digest credentials for user 'admin' in realm 'traefik'
$Config = @"
http:
  middlewares:
    digest-auth:
      digestAuth:
        users:
          - "admin:traefik:4e38e6e9b8971d60b5df96e85cb48d68"
  routers:
    digest-router:
      rule: "PathPrefix(`/api`)"
      middlewares:
        - "digest-auth"
      service: "api-service"
  services:
    api-service:
      loadBalancer:
        servers:
          - url: "http://127.0.0.1:8080"
"@

Set-Content -Path "$Dirdynamic_conf.yml" -Value $Config
Write-Host "DigestAuth Middleware Configured for Route /api." -ForegroundColor Green

Testing Challenge-Response Workflows

Launch the sandbox configuration and run curl requests with --digest authentication against http://127.0.0.1/api. Verify that unauthenticated requests receive HTTP 401 Unauthorized with nonce tokens, while authenticated requests pass successfully.