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WinApps: Run Windows apps as if they were a part of the native Linux OS

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Re: WinApps: Run Windows apps as if they were a part of the native Linux OS

#11

Post by breppp »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #9
jonp888 wrote: post #6

This system works by launching an official Windows image in Docker and then making an RDP connection to it. There are a couple of others too now like WinBoat What all of them avoid mentioning is that the images were intended by Microsoft for test and development purposes on Windows and the license clearly states you need a valid Windows license to use them: https://hub.docker.com/r/microsoft/windows#license I wonder…

I don't get it. Is it a VM in a container? Skimming https://hub.docker.com/r/microsoft/windows I would have interpreted that as a native Windows container, which I vaguely recall being a thing, but that would require an NT host, not Linux.

I remember Windows containers have two modes of operation as a Hyper-V VM and some sort of container-like isolation. I think the reason is that they had to quickly ship "containers" initially and that Windows does not have a kernel backwards compatibility the same way Linux does

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscont...

Re: WinApps: Run Windows apps as if they were a part of the native Linux OS

#12

Post by tommica »

userbinator wrote: post #3
andai wrote: post #2

Thought "isn't that just Wine" but no! They are virtualizing it! And integrating them seamlessly with Linux desktop somehow! Looks pretty cool. I remember playing with something similar in Virtualbox, it had a seamless mode too. It was a bit janky, and I think they removed it recently. I used it in the old days, to have MSN messenger on Ubuntu :)

They are virtualizing it! This is incidentally how Windows 386-9x ran DOS applications - in a VM, using V86 mode.

> This is incidentally how Windows 386-9x ran DOS applications - in a VM, using V86 mode.

Oh that is cool! Somehow I imagined that virtualization is more of a "modern" concept, but clearly that is naive thinking.

Re: WinApps: Run Windows apps as if they were a part of the native Linux OS

#14

Post by gigatexal »

cromka wrote: post #8

How about GPU acceleration, for e.g. Affinity?

Probably works the same as any other container that needs such acceleration (plex, CUDA) just pass the device over and the CAPs. There are guides online. Whether or not the windows in a container will use it idk.

Re: WinApps: Run Windows apps as if they were a part of the native Linux OS

#15

Post by RealStickman_ »

jonp888 wrote: post #6

This system works by launching an official Windows image in Docker and then making an RDP connection to it. There are a couple of others too now like WinBoat What all of them avoid mentioning is that the images were intended by Microsoft for test and development purposes on Windows and the license clearly states you need a valid Windows license to use them: https://hub.docker.com/r/microsoft/windows#license I wonder…

Most laptops have included Windows 10 or 11 licenses, which are valid for this use

Re: WinApps: Run Windows apps as if they were a part of the native Linux OS

#16

Post by queenkjuul »

I've had mixed results with this, recent versions of Adobe in particular gave me trouble.

I've been meaning to try WinBoat, but it's based on the same underlying technology (docker+RDP) so I'm guessing I'll hit the same bugs. I was thinking maybe i could alter the code to launch a different RDP client instead of the default.

Still, if you just need Office, it's a much more integrated setup than you can easily achieve with VMs.

Re: WinApps: Run Windows apps as if they were a part of the native Linux OS

#18

Post by pfix »

tommica wrote: post #12
userbinator wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are virtualizing it! This is incidentally how Windows 386-9x ran DOS applications - in a VM, using V86 mode.

> This is incidentally how Windows 386-9x ran DOS applications - in a VM, using V86 mode. Oh that is cool! Somehow I imagined that virtualization is more of a "modern" concept, but clearly that is naive thinking.

History edit

A form of virtualization was first demonstrated with IBM's CP-40 research system in 1967, then distributed via open source in CP/CMS in 1967–1972, and re-implemented in IBM's VM family from 1972 to the present. Each CP/CMS user was provided a simulated, stand-alone computer.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualization

Sometimes it feels like we don't have any actual innovation in CS anymore and it's all from pre 2000s and only made mainstream starting then.

Re: WinApps: Run Windows apps as if they were a part of the native Linux OS

#19

Post by kachapopopow »

jonp888 wrote: post #6

This system works by launching an official Windows image in Docker and then making an RDP connection to it. There are a couple of others too now like WinBoat What all of them avoid mentioning is that the images were intended by Microsoft for test and development purposes on Windows and the license clearly states you need a valid Windows license to use them: https://hub.docker.com/r/microsoft/windows#license I wonder…

https://get.activated.win wouldn't be online if microsoft cared.

Re: WinApps: Run Windows apps as if they were a part of the native Linux OS

#20

Post by doctorpangloss »

jonp888 wrote: post #6

This system works by launching an official Windows image in Docker and then making an RDP connection to it. There are a couple of others too now like WinBoat What all of them avoid mentioning is that the images were intended by Microsoft for test and development purposes on Windows and the license clearly states you need a valid Windows license to use them: https://hub.docker.com/r/microsoft/windows#license I wonder…

no, this system does not work by launching the windows containers on windows mcr.microsoft.com/windows images

it works by using dockurr, which is a great project but a worse way to distribute windows in the sense that it gets installed instead of downloaded and executed

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