The disclosure is directed to automatic virtualization based on user-defined criteria. In one example, data representative of user-defined criteria is received, a virtualization heuristic is generated based on the user-defined criteria, the virtualization heuristic is activated, an occurrence of an event defined by the user-defined criteria is detected, and at least one virtualization operation is automatically performed in response to the detected event. In certain embodiments, the virtualization operation is selected based on the user-defined criteria. In certain embodiments, the virtualization operation includes capturing file system and configuration activity associated with the detected event and storing data representative of the captured file system and configuration activity to a virtual layer.