[HN Gopher] WinBoat: Windows apps on Linux with seamless integra...
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WinBoat: Windows apps on Linux with seamless integration
Author : nateb2022
Score : 88 points
Date : 2025-10-08 17:56 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.winboat.app)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.winboat.app)
| westurner wrote:
| > [Flatpak, Podman?]: _This is on our to-do list, but it 'll take
| some effort because Flatpak is pretty isolated from the rest of
| the system and apps, so we'd have to find a way to expose
| installed apps, the Docker binary, and the Docker socket, and
| many other utilities_
|
| Vinegar wraps WINE in a Flatpak.
|
| The vscode flatpak works with podman-remote packaged at a flatpak
| too; or you can call `host-spawn` or `flatpak-spawn` like there's
| no container/flatpak boundary there.
|
| Nested rootless containers do work somehow; presumably with
| nested /etc/subuids for each container?
|
| Distrobox passes a number of flags necessary to run GUI apps in
| rootless containers with Podman. Unfortunately the $XAUTHORITY
| path varies with each login on modern systemd distros.
| oneplane wrote:
| This is just a Windows VM with extra tooling. Makes it look
| slick, doesn't make it "Windows apps on Linux".
|
| Similar projects exist for gaming for example Looking Glass,
| which also uses a Windows VM on KVM (the "Windows in Docker"
| thing is a bit of a lie, Windows doesn't run in the container,
| Windows runs on KVM on the host kernel).
|
| UX wise, this is similar to RAIL.
|
| That's not to say that this isn't neat, but it's also not
| something new (we still have two flavours: API simulation/re-
| implementation and running the OS [windows]). If this was a new,
| third flavour, that would be quite the news (in-place ABI
| translation?).
| heavyset_go wrote:
| It's literally just dockur/windows:latest + FreeRDP rootless
| mode + a small daemon that runs in the VM that tells you what
| apps are installed via an API.
|
| If you don't want the latter part, you'd be better served with
| the dockur/windows image + FreeRDP
| dijit wrote:
| can you do "pass a single window" with freeRDP? I haven't
| actually seen that before so forgive me for asking.
|
| This project _looks_ like it does that, but I could be wrong.
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| > can you do "pass a single window" with freeRDP?
|
| That's what "rootless" mode does.
| heavyset_go wrote:
| Yes, it's rootless mode. FreeRDP only works with X11, so it
| runs in Xwayland and the integration isn't as smooth as it
| could be.
|
| It's reminiscent of rootless mode in Parallels, just as
| janky, too.
| d3Xt3r wrote:
| This is incorrect. FreeRDP has supported Wayland since a
| long time via their `wlfreerdp` client - which is now
| deprecated, Wayland support is now available via their
| `sdl3-freerdp` client. The SDL client was alpha quality a
| couple of years ago, but as of the last couple of recent
| releases, it's been pretty decent. I'm unsure though if
| its reached full feature parity yet with the X11 client.
| jeroenhd wrote:
| I believe Cassowary (https://github.com/casualsnek/cassowary)
| is an older tool that does pretty much this.
|
| My experience with it is that FreeRDP in rootless mode isn't
| very good for Windows applications that do anything special
| with window borders. Using Office and many other programs
| became a pain.
|
| When it worked, it worked really well, though. Reminds me of
| the same feature that VMWare used to offer many years ago for
| running XP/Vista programs on Windows 7 through a VM.
| userbinator wrote:
| Missed opportunity to call it "Linux Subsystem for Windows", or
| LSW in short.
| riedel wrote:
| If wine was LSW1 than this is LSW2
| bee_rider wrote:
| It would be worthwhile to mention Proton IMO. Actually, without
| GPU pass through (yet, at least) I guess they are not even going
| after the same use-case anyway. It is just the other obvious
| comparison after Wine.
| d3Xt3r wrote:
| A few folks have managed to get GPU passthrough working
| https://github.com/dockur/windows/issues/22
| z3ratul163071 wrote:
| my windows paranoia got so high, i misread that as WinBloat
|
| trying it out just now, seems like a great idea !
| tamimio wrote:
| The rule of thumb is if you can use Linux and you don't have a
| very weird niche application that only runs on Windows, then you
| should migrate to Linux. There are plenty of good entry-level
| distributions and all sorts of applications too. Sooner or later,
| Windows will be abandonware with all the BS they will integrate,
| from always online to AI scanning all your files, so be
| proactive. I think even macOS is better than Windows in the
| current day, and you don't need a fortune too. The other day I
| found a mid-2012 MacBook Pro for $15 at the thrift store,
| installed 16GiB RAM and an SSD that I both had around, and
| installed the latest Sequoia with OpenCore Legacy Patcher, and
| voila, works just like new!
| worik wrote:
| > Sooner or later, Windows will be abandonware with all the BS
| they will integrate, from always online to AI scanning all your
| files
|
| I really hope this is correct. If there were any justice in the
| world....
|
| But, oh my aching head, the IT industry seems to be fill of
| people barely holding on, hoping and preying nobody calls their
| bluff.
|
| To these people, who hold a death grip on middle management,
| "nobody gets fired for buying microsoft" is a real thing
|
| Quality be dammed, job security rules the roost
| insane_dreamer wrote:
| The problem is that some of these niche Windows-only
| applications rely on drivers that are only available for
| Windows. In which case, migrating to Linux is challenging at
| best and impossible at worst.
| specproc wrote:
| > So, am I able to run Office 365 on it?
|
| > Yes. :)
|
| I mean, great. I've never actually tried since going all in on
| Linux. Figured I'd just abandon the Windows world. This would be
| useful though.
|
| Does anyone here actually do this, with Winboat or any other
| tool? Every time I've tried it's been too flaky to be worthwhile,
| but it's been a good few years.
|
| I'd chuffing love to have Affinity back.
| heavyset_go wrote:
| It's just a VM + an RDP connection in rootless mode. You can do
| it, but RDP is flaky in rootless mode.
|
| I'm currently using a similar setup for Office. You lose drag
| and drop, and you will be restarting the RDP client over and
| over again.
|
| It's a "solution" if you're willing to put up with jank.
| specproc wrote:
| Thanks, I see stuff like this and think, "well if it worked
| well everyone would use it all the time".
|
| Affinity is something I use occasionally enough to be able to
| put up with a bit of jank.
|
| Appreciate the response, good to know what I'm getting into
| before diving into something.
| d3Xt3r wrote:
| Affinity actually works fine in Wine (last I checked),
| takes a bit of effort to set it up though:
| https://github.com/seapear/AffinityOnLinux
| mijoharas wrote:
| Out of interest why do you need to?
|
| I've always been fine with libre office/Google docs since
| moving to Linux, but I'm not a heavy office user.
| everyone wrote:
| Ive been on DOS and Windows since the 80's... Recently I was
| mainly using Windows 10 LTSC, but now I'm finally transitioning
| to Linux Mint as my daily driver.. It's just so *good* .. The
| functionality, ease of use, and "just works" aspects of it are
| better than any other OS imo. It shows what can happen when a
| small team works with the goal of just making the OS _good_ and
| giving it as much functionality as possible vs when a giant corp
| works on it with all sorts of random goals and agendas.
|
| I am a game dev and avid gamer, so that was the only thing
| keeping me on Windows, but with stuff like Wine, Bottles, Proton,
| Lutris, + stuff like this coming out that reason is fading away.
| marrone12 wrote:
| Is there a way to use this with a remote windows VM that I
| connect with over RDP?
| d3Xt3r wrote:
| You can use WinApps for that instead - supports both local and
| remote VMs. https://github.com/winapps-org/winapps
| nxobject wrote:
| Heads up for arm64 users: there's currently no precompiled arm64
| support.
| righthand wrote:
| Mounting live Discord on your front page. Bold choice.
| cadamsdotcom wrote:
| Absolutely love seeing these projects that put a friendly face on
| amazing open source software so people can more easily run Linux
| and use the software they still need to..
|
| Any similar work underway to get macOS apps running on Linux?
| softfalcon wrote:
| I wish it was possible to see macOS running well on Linux, but
| there are a lot of loopholes to jump through to make that
| happen.
|
| 1. Apple makes running their software on non-Mac hardware
| illegal
|
| 2. For all the hate Windows gets, virtualizing it to run all
| over the place is normal and expected by industry at large...
| the same is only becoming recently true for macOS
|
| 3. There is a strong financial interest at Apple to get in the
| way of this as much as possible
|
| 4. Apple is trying to reinvent Docker so people stop using
| Docker on their Mac's with their native "Apple Containers"
| implementation
|
| Due to this... I foresee it taking a while for this to become
| common for mac apps + Linux
| moondev wrote:
| quickemu makes it pretty easy to launch macOS on kvm. I was
| able to launch it on my framework chromebook from the Linux
| terminal
| freedomben wrote:
| a bit off-topic, but how do you like the framework
| chromebook? Very seriously considering one. I have several
| frameworks running Fedora, but my daughter really wants a
| chromebook...
| moondev wrote:
| I really like it actually. It's a powerhouse with 64G RAM
| and NVME.
|
| Crostini and Android apps make it really versatile. I run
| the dev channel and there are all kinds of interesting
| features and experiments to play with. Arch instead of
| Debian for crostini.
|
| Was really disappointed when framework discontinued it,
| but it seems like chromeos is converging into Android.
|
| The flip side is that we now have crostini for Android.
| Chromeos android subsystem has not been updated to be
| able run it if you are wondering, heh.
| d3Xt3r wrote:
| macOS does in fact runs well* on Linux, see:
| https://github.com/dockur/macos
|
| Edit: Well-ish, as there's no GPU acceleration as noted in
| the comments below.
| GranPC wrote:
| For some values of "well". No GPU acceleration means it's
| incredibly sluggish and plagued with rendering issues.
| There's also some sort of incompatibility around clock
| sources, which can result in the VM crashing during startup
| if you assign more than one core to it. There are ways
| around it but if you're unlucky enough they result in a
| massive perf hit.
| d3Xt3r wrote:
| Not quite similar, but there's darling, which only supports CLI
| apps for now: https://github.com/darlinghq/darling
|
| If you want a full macOS VM there's dockur's project:
| https://github.com/dockur/macos but no seamless mode support
| yet.
| opengrass wrote:
| The remote Windows equivalent is kimmknight/remoteapptool which
| generates an RDP config or MSI, basically open source Vmware
| Horizon.
| insane_dreamer wrote:
| Is this a wrapper on Wine? Or a full VM?
| d3Xt3r wrote:
| It's a full VM running via Docker. The Windows apps are
| presented via RDP's RemoteApps protocol via FreeRDP.
|
| There's also WinApps, which is the same thing but without the
| docker container, and it supports a remote VM as well:
| https://github.com/winapps-org/winapps
| aargh_aargh wrote:
| What's Docker for, then?
| d3Xt3r wrote:
| WinBoat uses Docker (specifically the dockur/windows
| container) to simplify the backend setup. The Docker
| container hosts QEMU and all the configs to automate the
| whole "create a VM, configure it, install Windows,
| configure it etc" process.
| fsh wrote:
| I always used a Virtual Box VM for Office. After giving this a
| quick try, I'm impressed. The dockered VM is much less bloated
| then a normal Windows install, and somehow running the apps via a
| local RDP connection is significantly smoother than the Virtual
| Box graphics stack.
| lousken wrote:
| color accurate work? HDR? variable refresh? also it's still
| windows garbage underneath
| throwaway106382 wrote:
| Looks useful for things that don't work in Wine.
| ale42 wrote:
| If I understand it correctly, unlike WINE this requries an actual
| Windows licence (at least if you wish to stay legal)?
| tracker1 wrote:
| It's definitely neat and the UX is kinda slick... I tried it last
| weekend. Unfortunately, even basic usage seemed to fail.
| Launching Edge browser would create a window that was frozen, and
| no apparent way to recover.. closing left the outline in place,
| and there were issues with the integration itself. Trying to
| connect the "Desktop" option seemed to freeze. I was able to
| connect to the session via the integrated web view, it looked to
| be asking to allow the rdp connection.
|
| I really didn't dig in any deeper than that... didn't match the
| use case my SO needed, so wound up having to revert back to
| Windows on her laptop.
|
| I do hope it gets better... maybe with some more app/system
| integration on the Windows side of things.
| d3Xt3r wrote:
| What's her use case, if you don't mind me asking? Because a lot
| of Windows apps do work fine in Wine (some may require
| additional tweaks), so perhaps that could be an option.
| ho_schi wrote:
| Let me guess. When it gets tricky it fails. USB? Own IP? 3D?
| Bluetooth?
|
| My recommendation for happiness with Linux is: Always use native
| apps. Don't use WINE. Don't try to be compatible to inherent
| hostile things. Don't use VMs. And especially don't use Dual-
| Boot. It sucks.
|
| Basically migrate and go full Linux. Don't look back :)
|
| Proton (which is WINE derivative) works somehow, because Valve
| invests every single day tremendous efforts into it. But that's
| the problem, tremendous efforts.
|
| The good news. Every bit invested in high quality API/ABI on
| Linux pays off. Valve contributions to MESA and amdgpu are
| invaluable. Valve should honor native AAA-Titles and Indie-Titles
| for Linux - with exclusive Steam Awards. There is awesome stuff
| like Unrailed. Make the game developers think:
| "I better should do a proper port. And it should not be done by
| the Win32 developer. Task the Linux developer."
|
| PS: I missed _Counter-Strike_ so much on Linux for years. And the
| Valve came, ported everything natively, and it is wonderful :)
|
| PPS: I use a Mac for two incompatible applications (Garmin
| Express and Zwift). Less maintenance than Windows. Less
| possibilities than Linux. Horrible file-browser. Window
| management is a pain. But it covers the gap without ruining my
| day. I have to admit, the Mac cannot run Counter-Strike 2. That's
| a task for Linux :)
| xupybd wrote:
| Some of us have work that requires windows only applications.
| icemelt8 wrote:
| Or just use windows :)
| nine_k wrote:
| Very often what holds you back is not a huge and complex thing
| like an AAA game, but something far less demanding and obscure.
| Something like an app to design knitting patterns, elaborate,
| purpose-built, and without a huge team behind it. Not open-
| source though. In this case, seamless compatibility is great.
|
| (For games, there is Proton.)
| mouse_ wrote:
| native Linux apps also fail when it gets "tricky", so this
| isn't really that great of a benchmark, is it?
| jeroenhd wrote:
| > My recommendation for happiness with Linux is: Always use
| native apps. Don't use WINE. Don't try to be compatible to
| inherent hostile things. Don't use VMs. And especially don't
| use Dual-Boot. It sucks.
|
| Had I listened to your recommendation, I would've never tried
| Linux.
|
| Sorry, but Linux doesn't run Photoshop. Or Valorant. Or certain
| VPNs, certain educational software, and doesn't work with a
| bunch of hardware.
|
| Dual booting is still a hell of a lot better than trying to
| configure Wine in most cases, but if doing everything natively
| on Linux was an option, it would've have taken SteamOS so many
| years to become even remotely usable. And even then people
| install Windows on their Steam Decks to run certain specific
| programs or games.
|
| For the same reason native Linux isn't an option, native macOS
| wouldn't have been an option back when I first tried Linux. And
| even today, programs like Paint.NET are dearly missed on Linux
| and macOS (yes, I know about Pinta), and stock macOS is
| infuriating to use without all manner of tools and background
| programs reminding me of my XP. I use Windows for my Windows
| tools, Linux most of the time, and macOS for my macOS work
| stuff. I'm not getting rid of either non-Linux OS because that
| would make doing certain things simply impossible.
| eek2121 wrote:
| WINE has basically become a gaming wrapper at this point.
| There are not many (modern) apps outside of games that run on
| WINE. However, games run great!
|
| Last I checked, Office 365 didn't work, Basically anything
| modern Adobe didn't work, even the latest version of Visual
| Studio (not VSCode) didn't work. Things may have changed, I
| just learned to live without that stuff.
| aperrien wrote:
| _I_ didn 't know about Pinta, and now I do. Thank you!
| babypuncher wrote:
| I've found games running in Proton to provide better long-term
| compatibility than many native games. Despite Steam providing a
| stable runtime for native games, I have a few titles from their
| first major Linux push back in the '10s that are now crash-
| happy or exhibit substantial performance problems, but work
| perfectly fine when I use the Windows version with Proton.
|
| Telling people not to even think about using their favorite
| piece of software is a good way to make sure they don't
| consider switching. A lot of popular Windows apps run perfectly
| fine in WINE. I've been using foobar2000 in it for a decade at
| this point, and have yet to find a native alternative that
| gives me the same feature set. So why _shouldn 't_ I keep
| running it?
| wantlotsofcurry wrote:
| Are apps run through WinBoat limited to 60hz like regular Windows
| VMs? I've gotten to used to higher refresh rates and 1 window
| being a lower rate drives me nuts!
| d3Xt3r wrote:
| Yes, you can't get more than 60FPS, it's a limitation of the
| RDP protocol.
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