wait, I noticed that I am on QubesOS 4.2.4, so this tool is inaccessible to me?
You can manually download the RPM and extract the ISO to have it on Qubes OS R4.2.4. But please remember that it is still in testing phase.
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All right, good enough. Whenās the QubesOS 4.3 going to be released btw?
I tested both W10 and W11 on Qubes R4.2.4 with the new QWT. Both allow copying files to/from other VMs, and both allow access to USB devices, so thatās o.k.
My previous tests (see above) showed the same behavior for R4.3, but the QWT graphics driver there still has its problems.
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When shutting down a Windows 11 AppVM in seamless mode from its own Windows menu, a full-screen window is shortly displayed, but then, during shutdown, a message āThe GUI agent that runs in the VM āVMNAMEā implements outdated protocol (0:0), and must be updated.ā
Afterwards, the VM can be started again without problems.
Is it only with Win11, or also with Win10?
Not yet tested - but Iāll try tomorrow.
The effect is not reproducible, but fits into a general, more or less chaotic pattern. I have checked several different combinations:
- Windows 10 / 11
- Qubes R4.2.4 / R4.3
- TemplateVM / AppVM
Iāll try to summarize the observations. But the following effects may occur in one test, and in the next test, the same or other effects may occur, so youāll never know what happens next.
- No difference between TemplateVMs and AppVMs.
- At most minor differences between Qubes R4.2.4 and R4.3.
- Apart from some flickering, small, menu-like, but empty windows, W10 often behaves o.k. In this case, the menu is displayed and can be used to shut down the VM. During shutdown, a full-screen window may be displayed. Sometimes, however, it looks as if the VM was shut down, but instead it keeps running without showing a window and needs to be shut down via the Qube Manager.
- Windows 11 has problems with displaying the menu. Sometimes, it is displayed but may not be clickable, i.e., no submenu appears. Sometimes, the submenu appears but does not execute the shutdown command. Most of the time, however, one or two rectangles containing parts of the background image are shown instead of the menu.
- Switching to non-seamless mode and back again has a high probability of putting the VM into a non-reponsive state, were it only can be killed. This happens for both W10 and W11 and in both Qubes versions.
- During shutdown in all combinations, a message may appear that the VM tries to create a very large window.
I hope that this may help somewhat, although I see no clear structure in this behavior, but I donāt expect more from Windows, anyhow. 
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No love lost anywhere around here!
I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all the work you do supporting something you despise.
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I desperately needs fully working Windows for my job (Visual Studio mainly) do you think it is possible to use Windows 10/11 via RDP only (so dont install QWT) and be able to work productively?
As productivity I mean mainly:
- copy paste text
- copy files from/to Windows
- good resolution (should be solved via RDP probably)
- no lagging
- no crashing
- no inability to use important stuff like GUI buttons
- be able to shutdown VM
- etc
I am not using Qubes now so I cannot try by myself.
Also if I understand it correctly, it is better to create golden image and this image clone and use, it should be better for Windows then trying to create custom template vm from hvm, right?
Thank you!!!
For the situation you described I might buy two computers. Preferably both ARM64. One to run Windows on and the other to act as a secure gateway. Personally I would find a way to put both together in a box I personally designed that is optimized for travel. OpenBSD on the gateway box with Wireguard configured to further protect RDP is what I would suggest.
For anything like Windows, default deny outbound and proactively observing network traffic is generally recommended.
Any OS should be run from a template or something that can do snapshots. More likely than not, I would run Windows in a VM even if it were the only VM on the box it ran on, if I really did want to run Windows.
With some DevOps patterns where you are now working, you may be able to significantly lessen the gravity of Windows and Microsoft there ā if you do feel like fighting that battle someone else (somewhere) might also appreciate that.
No additional crashing, I think is what you mean. Qubes, nor any other open source hypervisor-centric project, can compensate for Windows being Windows.
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What do you think @SteveC? I read on the forum that you are using VS too
Iām not using visual studio. I do use tethered shooting for a camera and a couple of other apps I can find no equivalent for in Linux (in one case itās just incompatible file formats).