A virtualized storage for use in performing dynamic analysis on a sample is configured, at least in part by copying the sample to the virtualized storage. A virtual machine emulator is launched using a snapshot of a virtualized platform. The virtualized platform is previously configured to use the virtualized storage, and the snapshot is configured to use a placeholder file to occupy space for later use when installing the sample. A location of the copied sample in an image corresponding to the virtualized storage is determined. The copied sample is installed and dynamic analysis is performed on the sample.