A computer system suitable for archiving data with a corresponding application program in a virtual application environment is presented. The computer system includes a processor, a memory, and a storage. The computer system also includes an operating system, data to be archived, and an application program that correspond to the data, such that the application program can operate on the data. The computer system also includes a virtual application environment generator. In response to an instruction to archive the data, the virtual application environment generator generates a virtual application environment. The virtual application environment comprises the data, the corresponding application program, and the operating system.