Windows support in Qubes

[jevank]

Driver has just a stub there.

QubesOS/qubes-gui-agent-windows/blob/4e6a6cec9331c6cf365027e33ea801a942cf8058/qvideo/gdi/enable.c#L608-L621

[marmarek]

No, I mean VM freezing and failing to enable/disable seamless mode.

[jevank]

@GWeck

For W7, only the few resolutions are offered, even if all modes are selected in the Extended Display Options . Trying to select another resolution freezes the VM. If the VM is set to seamless mode via the Qubes Manager, it disappears completely. Disabling seamless mode after this crahes the Qube Manager, and the VM stays invisible (and probably still in seamless mode) and has to be rebooted. If I try to disable seamless mode from the XFCE menu, using the Qube Settings command I get the following error:

As I understand that was complex test, previous messages about seamless switching was ok.

I don’t use it often, but did not notice freezing or smth similar.

[jevank]

Don’t get me wrong I don’t SWITCHING often, but daily use windows with QWT.

I made some stress tests to switching seamless and got no errors up to 60 cycles.

for i in $seq( 1 10) ; do \
echo SEAMLESS | qvm-run -p --service qwt-test qubes.SetGuiMode ; sleep 1 ; \
echo FULLSCREEN | qvm-run -p --service qwt-test qubes.SetGuiMode ; sleep 1 ; \
done

UPDATED: some test more got me to qrexec-agent service broken and no ability to execute commands. Perhaps it looks like a freeze with seamless mode.

[Scumbag]

I am under the impression almost all posts here about Windows 10 are on Qubes R4.1.
Does anyone know what is and isn´t working for Windows 10 on Qubes R4.0?

[Libertad]

Are you the only person for which this occurred?

I’ve been wondering about my install and why I was having difficulty starting a appVM-Win. Maybe, I should post this with a heading of Qubes 4.0.4 and Win10.

The issue I’ve encountered is with qrexec.

Unfortunately the debug function does not work so I couldn’t get further information; except:

qrexec failed to connect to the appVM.

The VM is fine, it worked before but it doesn’t seem to work/connect with the new dom0 based on 4.0.4.

Perhaps, it’s dom0 or qrexec found on the appVM that needs additional configuring.

So, in summary, is this a dom0 issue, a OS issue, or a qrexec issue?

Thanks,

[elliotkillick]

This may be a good place to announce that I’ve recently created a walkthrough video demonstration on using qvm-create-windows-qube to create a Windows 10 qube here: qvm-create-windows-qube 2.0: Windows 10 Demo (w/ Qubes Windows Tools) on Qubes OS - YouTube

Please feel free to refer to it should you require!

[brendanhoar]

@jevank - I sent PRs to @elliotkillick for the rpc policy and msi issues. Also sent was one to more gracefully handle a missing qubes-windows-tools.iso file.

[brendanhoar]

A Fix for fullscreen HVM issue under R4.1 is now available in current-testing repo.

[vetomaker]

Did anybody experience similar error

Booting from DVD/CD…
Boot failed: Could not read from CDROM (code 0004)
Booting from Hard Disk…

, when mounting the QWT image via loopback device

dom0: qvm-start [windows-qube-name] --cdrom [dispXXXX]:loop0

, as explained in GitHub - tabit-pro/qubes-windows-tools-cross: Qubes Windows Tools build with mingw, wine and qubes-builder ?

After second or third time try, same error appeared, but suddenly the drive also had been mounted successfully.

[Yorz]

I can suggest to you: this solution.
Extract qubes-tools.msi flie from qwt iso, send it to usb drive and attach it via device manager in windows qube settings on the “Device” tab.

Tell me if it works for you pls. With last dom0 updates in qubes 4.1 PCI devices attaching was broken on my system. After starting HVM with usb controller attached, the host system freezes and reboot. I will install qubes 4.1rc2, on other SSD to fix it at this time.

[HPOA909]

Well, is there any qubes windows tools for R4.1rc4?

[brendanhoar]

Yes, unofficial crossbuild project under tabit-pro · GitHub

They are working to push their updates into qubes repos but you can build it under fedora using their instructions.

B

[vetomaker]

@Yorz Thanks for your alternative solution.

In the meantime I repeated the install routine and image mounting did happen successfully at first try.
If you should experience same error, shutdown the windows VM properly and wait for Qubes domain to disappear, then restart. Repeat until CD-ROM available!

Might be worth to investigate some time to make install process more “stable”, but I agree, Windows is the toilet in the Qubes OS bathroom

[GWeck]

Looking back at the original suggestions at the start of this discussion, nearly all of them have been realized now, and Qubes R4.1 now provides Windows support which is better than that of R4.0 and earlier. Lots of thanks to all developers who made that possible with their good work! In most cases, installing Windows qubes and QWT can now be done reliably and without problems, and so we have an environment where many of the usual problems in Windows use are mitigated.

I sincerely hope that this will help to get many new users of Qubes OS!

[Scumbag]

Thank you all for all the effort and hard work!

[makuoly]

I am curious to know if anyone here experienced the following issue related to search index on window 10 (Windows Search not working in WIndowsVM based on Windows-10 template with moved user folder · Issue #7732 · QubesOS/qubes-issues · GitHub) and can confirm that the following commands do not break anything on a windows 10 AppVM:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

sfc /scannow 

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"} 

[tanky0u]

I remember reading on this forum that Qubes Windows Tools (QWT) doesn’t work on QubesOS 4.2, due to some vulnerability with the drivers that come from Xen (? I read that on QubesOS blog a while ago, and back then couldn’t understand the specifics of it, and now, I am failing to remember it properly).

What is the status of QWT going to be with QubesOS 4.2 when 4.2 gets a proper release (which should be soon). I remember @marmarek mentioning wanting/working for it to be back again available for 4.2 release. Is this still the case and on track?

[adw]

@tanky0u

I remember reading on this forum that Qubes Windows Tools (QWT) doesn’t work on QubesOS 4.2, due to some vulnerability with the drivers that come from Xen (? I read that on QubesOS blog a while ago, and back then couldn’t understand the specifics of it, and now, I am failing to remember it properly).

I think you’re thinking of this QSB:

QSB-091: Windows PV drivers potentially compromised

We have published Qubes Security Bulletin 091: Windows PV drivers potentially compromised. The text of this QSB and its accompanying cryptographic signatures are reproduced below. For an explanation of this announcement and instructions for authenticating this QSB, please see the end of this announcement. Qubes Security Bulletin 091 ---===[ Qubes Security Bulletin 091 ]===--- 2023-07-26 Windows PV drivers potentially compromised User …

@tanky0u

What is the status of QWT going to be with QubesOS 4.2 when 4.2 gets a proper release (which should be soon). I remember @marmarek mentioning wanting/working for it to be back again available for 4.2 release. Is this still the case and on track?

I think you’re thinking of this thread:

QWT (support for Windows in Qubes OS) is not available anymore. When will this be solved?

Qubes Windows Tools (QWT) were removed from Qubes OS (replaced with a dummy placeholder file) due to potential risk of QWT being compromised. I want to make clear, if possible: What is plan for this situation? How long will it take to make QWT available again? Dates, releases? How users are expected to use QWT right now? Should users consider upcoming R4.2 to be the first Qubes OS version in a while that does not support Windows running with QWT at all? It is a huge step backward and definit…

I’m not aware of any more recent news since then.

[GWeck]

I just created a pull request qubes-doc #1391for the documentation on QWT installation to shed some light on this situation. Hope it helps a bit.