Testing Windows and QWT in R4.1

GWeck · January 6, 2021, 1:32pm

I checked my installation and had network access from both Windows 7 and 10 templates if and only if their NetVM is set to sys-firewall before starting them.If, as is default for templates, their NetVM is set to none / deafult (n/a), they start without a network interface, i.e. they have no network hardware.

I installed QWT without the PV network driver, because I had already some trouble in the previous version of QWT (see above), as the PV driver does not seem to work with Qubes DHCP. Maybe it behaves differently from my installation.

I’ll try with msconfig later on , so stay tuned …

rasta · January 6, 2021, 4:40pm

So, I did a few mistakes in configuring network in win7 manual and uses 255.255.255.0 as mask ,but it has to be 255.255.255.255. Now it is working.
And I reinstalled the template vm with xen disk and network drivers this time and a own build win7 ultimate.iso including sp1 and updates. It seems that everything is working. Qwt 4.1 and qubes 4.1 is really good for the first days! I am doing my Home-Schooling with that settings, running teams on fed32 and sometimes at win7 vm and did not have much problems:)
You can send a file to the win7 vm and the other way around. And secure clipboard copy is working,too. The qubes private is q: and the move of the user data was correct. Audio is working so far, too:) A template based appvm ist working,too. U just have to change the Ip in the windows network settings corresponding to the VM and network is working,too:)
I will try a few things more and update as soon I got some more informations and set up and Windows 10 VM,too and look what errors I will get there.
But in a nutshell many things are already working and that is a big hope for a stable secure win vm in the next years!

Just an other question: Is there any doc about how to link and windows desktop file to a qubes starmenu shortcut like the tool qvm-create-windows-qube ist doing it after installing the packages via cocolately?
Thank you again and stay blessed!

Lovely greetings

Rasta

GWeck · January 7, 2021, 11:35am

Just an other question: Is there any doc about how to link and windows desktop file to a qubes starmenu shortcut like the tool qvm-create-windows-qube ist doing it after installing the packages via cocolately?

You may create a destop starter symbol like for any Linux-based VM, by rightclicking on an empty desktop location and then tryping <your-Windows-VM-name> and selecting one of the programs offered in a list. This starter works as expected, starting the VM if it is not yet running, and then starting the application, in seamless or non-seamless mode as spefied for the VM. You may even drag the icon to the task bar and start it from there.

GWeck · January 7, 2021, 11:53am

The Windows 10 VM may crash after qrexec timeout. This can be avoided by setting qvm-features <VMname> qrexec "", i.e. setting this paramter to blank. Still, qrexec communication seems to work, because file copy is operational.

If the Windows 10 VM does not start visibly, its gui can be started manually via qvm-start-gui <VMname>. Alternatively the parameter gui and gui-emulated may be set to 1, i.e. qvm-features VMname> gui 1 and qvm-festures gui-emulated 1.

Still, this is not quite reproducible and needs further testing.

rasta · January 15, 2021, 2:50pm

I tried installing the new qubes windows tools at a Windows 10HVM,too. But there I am not able to get a stable working vm. Sometimes copy between other vm*s is working sometimes not. I am always creating an template vm first and then try appvm’s. Seamlessmode of course is not working, too and qubes manager chrashed. but I will try what will be if I change it in the registry to value 1,if then system will boot or not the next days.
And I tried to install the xen 9.00 pv storage drivers and bus before installing qwt. So win10 will boot, but if u install new qwt the template vm will not boot anymore and hang up at booting.
The best option was just to install qwt with standart settings in a fresh create hvm with the known settings for an win10 vm:) mostly copy file betwenn the vm is working on this way. but I will try some more trial and errors this weekend:)

but for the win7 vm, seamless mode persistently via win registry is working, memory balance not,but no problem usually, the template and appvm are working. audio,too. Just sometmes it will be a bit laggy if u open a big app like adobe photoshop in it ,but that is stressfull for ur cpu and else and must not work perfectly and is good enough to use it:)

stay healthy!

GWeck · January 15, 2021, 4:56pm

That is exactly what I observed! (Just shows how reliable W10 is, and they always tell us to switch from W7 to W10 - Grrr!)

rasta · January 20, 2021, 10:02am

No I reinstalled my Windows 7 template VM, and have exactly the same problem as the last time but now I cannot get i working again. Just in the appvm the network is working and not in the template vm. I tried it with the xen network drivers and without. Maybe u can tell me what I can try. The right gateway and else is need is that from the Win7 template vm or?
I don*t know why, but that is annoying. I need a solution to get networking working faster and not after many days of work:D I try to reinstall it later and set the netvm soon before the first start

GWeck · January 20, 2021, 12:47pm

For Windows 7, I have the following behaviour:

If the template VM is connected to sys-firewall on startup, i.e. the Qube manager shows sys-firewall as NetVM before starting the template VM, it will have a network device and will be connected to the internet.
If the template has no NetVM, i.e. the Qube manager shows default (n/a) as NetVM before starting the template VM, it wil have not network adapter (shown in the Windows network manager). Setting the NetVM in the Qube manager after starting the VM will have no effect until the next boot of the VM.
The AppVM, which normally is connected to sys-firewall, behaves the same way as the template VM, if it is connected to sys-firewall.
Starting both template VM and AppVM with network enabled is likely to cause trouble, because they may come up with the same IP address.

Windows 10 may behave the same way, but after the next boot may not work at all. It is more or less erratical.

rasta · January 21, 2021, 8:01am

So , I finally know the fix, but don*t know what exactly the problem was. Now I reinstalled it (always with xen network and pv drivers, the other way I will not have much effort) and before I update qubes 4.1 from the current testing repo. I think there is a driver or anything else new, which makes sys-firewall working in my win. Of course I need to set up the network at the adapter section in win manualy, but then it FINALLY will work. But of course I had to try thsi one more to be sure for 100 %

And at this qubes install I missed to enable that sys-net should handle all my usb controllers, too. Do u know if there is a a way to enable this after instaling?

So, I try a fesh Qubes installation at my 2nd laptop to figure out if that is the problem. I installed 4.1 with sys-net ,sys-usb everything dispvm and a custom storage pool. I installed a win7 vm and hat the same network problems and cannot get it working. then I run a update of the current testiing repo and it is working with manual setup,xen drivers and else… hm?!

According to Windows 10, I tried a few more installs ,but with the xen drivers it is not running. maybe file copy is working one time. For me the stablest is to use a Windows 10 pro.iso , update it completely and install net 4.8 , maybe 5, too. Do a restart everytime its necessary and at the last step install the qwt 4.1 with move of user data enabled and standart installation settings. So u will get a working Windows 10 HVM ,like in qubes 4.0 without the xen drivers, but that did not matter much.

I saw that ur using ly display manager for logging? I tried it with sddm kde and lightdm xfce and both. Sometimes I think that sddm and kde have a better performance in the windows hvms, especially in win7 seamless mode. But I like to have the ly display manager like u can the at the gihub page in this posts. But if I download the file and run make the I am always getting 1 error. Do u have an compiled rpm file that I can use to install or tell me the steps to get it running? Because sometimes I am using i3 desktop, and with the other managers I cannot logout and login to a plasma or xfce session . Then it will not load in completely and I have to reboot. I can imagine that with the ly manager it is working and I have good perfomance,too cause it is a small one. Soon it is weekend and I will do some trial and error again. Have to get more space in my dom0 root volume and a few things to do

So after I am trying a few several updates with new kernel 5.1x ,sys net and sys-firewall are working again and starts, but only my my wlan is working like with kernel 5.9.14-1 and I don’t know how to get my wired connection working again. The network card is detected, but that is a bit off topic for here, but I noticed problems with my windows Hvm and the new kernel…It don’t start anymore and I am alyways getting an qrexec error and the vm halted. I think that is a problem with qwt and the new kernels?!
I definitely need to get working my dual boot from a ssd again or I have to buy a second ssd if that is not working for some work until I got the vm running again and stable that it will not crash again after the next updates;) I will try it what u told me in the other topic @GWeck . Thank you for ur help. U have got a big knowledge about such things!

fix: okay that problem was fixed easily and I just need to run again qvm-prefs VM qrexec_timeout 300- It seems that this was overwritten at the last update, but now the win vm*s are working like before.

stay healthy

estoner · March 22, 2021, 4:11pm

I am attempting to install Windows 7 with QWT as a Stand alone VM on Qubes 4.1. I originally attempted to restore my stable win7 VM from Qubes 4.0.3 and it would not run as in the OP.

I created my VM with this command:

qvm-create --class StandaloneVM --label red --property virt_mode=hvm win7new

Since I’m not familiar with the build process I have downloaded the QWT 4.1-65 rpm from here

https://github.com/0rb677/dotfiles/raw/master/qubes-windows-tools-4.1-65.noarch.rpm

and I am following the instructions here

https://github.com/0rb677/dotfiles

sudo dnf install mock
sudo groupmems -a user -g mock
sudo mount -o remount,dev /dev/xvdb /home
git clone https://github.com/tabit-pro/qway-qubes-repo
mock -n -r qway-qubes-repo/fedora-qbs.cfg --rootdir /home/user/temp --resultdir \
/home/user/rpms --sources qway-qubes-repo/qubes-windows-tools/ --spec \
qway-qubes-repo/qubes-windows-tools/qubes-windows-tools.spec

rpm -i qubes-windows-tools-4.1-65.noarch.rpm 
qvm-prefs win7new memory 4096
qvm-prefs win7new maxmem 4096
qvm-prefs win7new kernel ''
qvm-volume extend win7new:root 30g
qvm-prefs win7new qrexec_timeout 300
bcdedit /set testsigning on
netplwiz (disable password)
qvm-start win7new --instal-windows-tools
set network manualy
qvm-features win7new audio-model ich6
qvm-prefs win7new memory 2048
qvm-prefs win7new maxmem 2048

I have some questions:

Is using this QWT 4.1-65 rpm going to be reasonably safe /secure
I am unfamiliar with “mock” , please inform what it does and if those command lines are pertinent to my use case.
I assume that since I have the rpm, I should copy that into Dom0 before executing the command . Correct?

rpm -i qubes-windows-tools-4.1-65.noarch.rpm

on edit: Of course I have read the information on “mock” at
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Using_Mock_to_test_package_builds
so I have an idea what it does, but I am specifically trying to decipher its use in this case

Thank you very much for your assistance.

GWeck · March 23, 2021, 10:25am

Hi @estoner, the rpm file already contains QWT 4.1-65 in a form that can be directly used. The first group of commands seems just to be the build process for the rpm file. I did not try this, and I suppose it would not have worked in my environment. I just downloaded the rpm file and copied it via qvm-run --pass-io to dom0. Installing it there via sudo dnf install makes the Windows installer qubes-tools-x64.msi available in the Windows VM for the qvm-start --install-windows-tools command later on.

To your questions:

For a test environment, the rpm is suffiently secure. I have been using it now for about 3 months, without problems. For a production environment, I would like to havean official QWT kit, but that seems somewhere in the future for Qubes R4.1.
The mock command builds the rpm, but, to me, it is unclear, which resources (on the Fedora and on the Windows side) are needed to perform this.
The rpm has to be installed in dom0 in order to make the iso available in the Windows VM. For further tests, I prefer to extract the QWT Windows installer qubes-tools-x64.msi from that iso, which appears as a CDROM in the Windows VM, and use it afterwards, without referring to the iso subsequently.

I hope I could somewhat clarify this and not make the cofusion worse!

estoner · March 24, 2021, 6:14pm

@GWeck

Thank you very much for your detailed response. Unfortunately I don’t seem to have fully functional QWT after 2 attempts.
Working : Audio, Internet
Not Working: clipboard copy and file transfer to/from other VMs, USB connect through devices widget, enable/disable seamless mode buttons grayed out . Probably other features.

Here is an outline of the process I followed. If you or any other members @rasta @wind.gmbh @ooooooooo @fepitre can comment on where I went wrong it will be greatly appreciated

Install QWT in dom0

copy all files to untrusted/Downloads
from untrusted/Downloads copy the QWT-rpm to Dom0 Downloads directory via :
qvm-run --pass-io untrusted 'cat /home/user/Downloads/qubes-windows-tools-4.1-65.noarch.rpm > /home/user/Downloads/qubes-windows-tools-4.1-65.noarch.rpm
list the directory to verify the file was moved to dom0 Downloads directory
ls
while in dom0 Downloads directory install the QWT with the following command:
sudo dnf install qubes-windows-tools-4.1-65.noarch.rpm
check to see that the package is installed in dom0
dnf history userinstalled

Install Windows 7 stand alone VM (win7)

open dom0 terminal
enter the following commands one at a time:
qvm-create --class StandaloneVM --label red --property virt_mode=hvm win7
qvm-prefs win7 memory 4096
qvm-prefs win7 maxmem 4096
qvm-prefs win7 kernel ‘’
qvm-prefs win7 debug true
qvm-volume extend win7:root 30g
qvm-start --cdrom=untrusted:/home/user/Downloads/Win7_Pro_SP1_English_COEM_x64.iso win7
restart after the first part of the windows installation process ends (make sure its completely stopped)
qvm-start win7
set auto-login,from within win7: open administrator cmd prompt and enter the following command:
netplwiz
follow the wizard
once Windows is installed and working shut down win7
restart win7 to test auto login
in dom0 terminal
qvm-prefs win7 qrexec_timeout 300

Install QWT in Windows 7 stand alone VM (win7)

qvm-start win7

in windows open cmd prompt administrator and enter the following command:
bcdedit /set testsigning on
restart win7 to make sure testsigning took (mine shows Testing in lower right of desktop)
shutdown win7
in dom0 terminal
qvm-start win7 --install-windows-tools
in windows set network manually (need to determine what this entails)
open windows explore (folder icon)
open computer
open cd drive
double click on qubes-tools-x64 (icon) and follow setup wizard at warnings choose install drivers anyway
restart win7
in dom0 terminal
qvm-features win7 audio-model ich6
qvm-prefs win7 memory 2048
qvm-prefs win7 maxmem 2048
qvm-prefs win7 debug false

NOTE: I had fully functional windows 7 with QWT on this hardware under Q4.0 using 3rd party qvm-create-windows-qube so I’m encouraged that its just my shortcoming, not a hardware incompatibility

estoner · March 25, 2021, 8:13pm

After a 3rd attempt , Windows 7 Qube does not have functional QWT clip board or file transfer between other AppVM.

Here are the symptoms:

on reboot after qvm-start win7 --install-windows-tools
a start-up repair diagog box appears and after some time i get a box “restart to complete repairs”. If I dig into the details of the repair, there is this message:
Boot critical file e:\windows\system32\drivers\xenbus.sys is corrupt
repair action: file repair
result:failed, error code 0x2
time taken 3323 ms
The system does a forced reboot and everything seems good, but that is a trick because upon further investigation when looking at the win7 Device Manager - System Devices there are no Xen related devices installed . My installed devices are identical to this image, I FOUND ONLINE , less the Xen related devices

Maybe this information will help the community

xewere5109 · March 26, 2021, 9:47am

Hi,
you are not the only one testing the qubes windows tools.
I followed your previous steps and all I get is just audio to work, no copy and past and no usb devices.
Windows 10 or 7 makes no difference.
Also I can’t have the “appVMs” it’s just a standalone VM with audio working.

estoner · March 26, 2021, 2:43pm

Thank you @xewere5109 for verifying my results.

It seems that my steps are flawed because others are getting more fully functioning results. My hope is that one of those members who achieved better results might scrutinize my efforts and point out where I went wrong. Once I get a more functional standaloneVM working I intend to test a win7 templateVM and associated AppVM

GWeck · March 27, 2021, 11:47am

For Windows 7, it seems that the standard SP1 disk is too old. Before installing QWT, the system has to be updated to the current (i.e. January 2020) level.

As for clipboard an file copy, these functions worked for me only if I installed the Xen PV disk and network drivers. During QWT installation, these drivers have to be explicitly selected, as they are disabled by default.

Good luck!

estoner · March 29, 2021, 7:44pm

Ok, That was the trick. I was using a SP1 iso and once I fully updated Windows 7 the QWT installed and I have all functions except seamless mode.

Thank you very much @GWeck for your patience and help.

xewere5109 · March 30, 2021, 12:36pm

It’s good to hear.
Do you now you have:
-copy/paste working with right click on windows file manager
-attaching usb devices from sys-usb
-audio working
-mic working
-AppVMs or just a single VM with desktop environment(StandaloneVM)

estoner · March 30, 2021, 4:00pm

I will address these one at a time:

-copy/paste working with right click on windows file manager
Yes copy/paste to and from appVM to win7vm works in the Qubes way of alt-ctrl-c and alt-clrl-v to move data to and from qubes clip-board then right-click copy and paste works to initiate or finalize the transfer in the target qubes

-attaching usb devices from sys-usb
No, not at this time. I have never been able to attach usb drive through qubes widget to a Windows Qube. Others have reported success, but it has eluded me. For my use case the file copy/move provided by Qubes makes a work-around and it is working fully.

-audio working
yes audio works but as @GWeck reported it can be a little “scratchy”

-mic working
yes mic works when attached to win7VM through the qubes widget. It is a little noisy but I rarely use my mic

-AppVMs or just a single VM with desktop environment(StandaloneVM)
I currently only have Windows 7 setup as a StandaloneVM with desktop environment. (no seamless-mode) I did not install the PV drivers to try to keep things simple for a baseline functionality . Now that I have this much working, (which is good for the minimal CAD work I do on Windows), I intend on trying another separate Template/AppVM install with PV drivers and the bells and whistles. Hopefully the PV drivers will solve the lack of seamless-mode and the USB connectivity issue. I will report back on that.

Thank you again @GWeck for this OP. The data it has generated and accumulated for the community and for 4.1 testers is very useful.

gust · May 27, 2021, 9:38pm

I am getting crashes when attempting to install xenbus to pave way for QWT on a freshly installed Windows 10 HVM. I am following this guide, which is excellent thank you for making it!

github.com

Qubes-Community/Contents/blob/master/docs/os/windows/windows-tools.md#installing-qubes-guest-tools-in-windows-10-vms


Qubes Windows Tools
===================

Qubes Windows Tools are a set of programs and drivers that provide integration of Windows AppVMs with the rest of the Qubes system. Currently the following features are available for Windows VMs after installation of those tools:

-   **Qubes Video Driver** - provides for the Seamless GUI mode that integrates apps windows onto the common Qubes trusted desktop
-   **File sender/receiver** - Support for [secure clipboard copy/paste](https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/copy-paste/) between the Windows VM and other AppVMs
-   ***File sender/receiver** - Support for [secure file exchange](https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/copying-files/) between the Windows VM and other AppVMs
-   **Copy/Edit in Disposable VM** - Support for editing files in DisposableVMs as well as for qvm-run and generic qrexec for the Windows VM (e.g. ability to run custom service within/from the Windows VM)
-   **Xen PV drivers** for Windows that increase performance compared to qemu emulated devices

Below is a breakdown of the feature availability depending on the windows version:

|             Feature                  |  Windows 7 x64 | Windows 10 x64 |
| ------------------------------------ | :------------: | :------------: |
| Qubes Video Driver                   |        +       |       -        |
| Qubes Network Setup                  |        +       |       +        |
| Private Volume Setup (move profiles) |        +       |       +        |
| File sender/receiver                 |        +       |       +        |

This file has been truncated. show original

xenvdb seemed to install fine.

For xenbus, I tried both the suggested 9.0.0 version as well as (out of desperation) the development build. Both cause hard Windows crashes (reboot needed).

I’ve made sure I select “Run as administrator” on the installers and I also tried enabling test signing in Windows as suggested I should do in the Xenbus docs.

My Windows 10 is fully updated (I updated and ran both installers again).

This isn’t really a Qubes/QWT problem (directly) but if anyone else hits this issue I’d be curious.