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The Windows host installer shipped only the host exe + SudoVDA driver + FFmpeg, so a
fresh install had no web management console — required for basically every user (status,
paired devices, the PIN pairing flow). The console was only ever set up by hand on the
dev box (build-web.ps1 + a hand-made PunktfunkWeb task whose web-run.cmd wasn't even
committed). Bundle it into the same installer, mirroring the proven Linux punktfunk-web
deploy.
- windows-host.yml builds the Nitro node-server console (bun, deb.yml's shape) + fetches
a pinned portable Node, smoke-boots it under node (/login == 200) to gate the build, and
hands web/.output + node.exe to the pack script.
- pack-host-installer.ps1 gains -WebDir/-NodeExe and stages the .output tree, node, and
the two new scripts into the non-WOW64-redirected build area.
- punktfunk-host.iss lays the payload into {app}\web\.output + {app}\node\node.exe, adds
a wizard page for the console login password pre-filled with a crypto-random default
(shown on the finish page; kept on upgrade), and runs web-setup.ps1.
- web-setup.ps1 writes the ACL'd %ProgramData%\punktfunk\web-password (Administrators +
SYSTEM), registers the PunktfunkWeb scheduled task (boot, SYSTEM, restart-on-failure ->
web-run.cmd -> node on :3000), opens inbound TCP 3000, and starts it. web-run.cmd
sources the host's mgmt-token + the password and runs the bundled node.
- The console proxies the host's loopback mgmt API with the host's own
%ProgramData%\punktfunk\mgmt-token (no host-code change). Uninstall removes the task +
firewall rule.
Validated locally: bun build -> node-server bundle, node boot serves /login (200) and
gates /api (401). The Windows-only bits (ISCC compile, scheduled task, password page,
firewall) validate on the Windows runner CI + on-glass.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
79 lines
4.9 KiB
Markdown
79 lines
4.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "Windows Host"
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description: "Run the punktfunk streaming host on a Windows PC with an NVIDIA GPU."
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---
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**Status: implemented and shipping — NVIDIA-only, x64-only.** punktfunk is Linux-first, but it also
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runs as a native **Windows host**: a signed installer registers a `LocalSystem` service that streams
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your Windows desktop or games to any punktfunk or Moonlight client, at the client's exact resolution
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via a virtual display — including **HDR10** (10-bit BT.2020 PQ) when your Windows desktop is in HDR
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mode. It's newer and less battle-tested than the Linux host, and it is built specifically around
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NVIDIA hardware. (The Linux host is 8-bit only — HDR there is blocked upstream.)
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> This page is about the Windows **host** (streaming *from* a Windows PC). To stream *to* a Windows
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> PC, see the [Windows client](/docs/clients#windows-desktop-client).
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## Requirements
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- **Windows 10/11, x64.** ARM64 is not supported — both NVENC and the virtual-display driver are
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x64-only.
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- **An NVIDIA GPU + driver.** The host encodes with NVENC (`nvEncodeAPI64.dll`); there is no other
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encoder backend on Windows.
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- **(Optional) ViGEmBus** for virtual gamepads — a manual prerequisite for now
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([releases](https://github.com/nefarius/ViGEmBus/releases)).
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## Install
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Download the signed `punktfunk-host-setup-<ver>.exe` from the package registry and run it — it
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installs the host into `C:\Program Files\punktfunk`, optionally installs the bundled **SudoVDA**
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virtual-display driver, and registers + starts the service. Full steps (including the silent install
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and the CLI `punktfunk-host service install` path) are in
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[Running as a Service → Windows](/docs/running-as-a-service#windows); packaging internals live in
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[`packaging/windows`](https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk/src/branch/main/packaging/windows/README.md).
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The installer also sets up the **web management console** (status, paired devices, the PIN pairing
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flow): it bundles the console plus its own Node runtime and runs it as the **`PunktfunkWeb`** service
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on **`http://<this-PC>:3000`**, starting at boot. During setup you choose the console **login
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password** (pre-filled with a secure random default and shown again on the final page); change it
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later in `%ProgramData%\punktfunk\web-password`. Open the console from any browser on the LAN and log
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in — no extra install, and the host's management API stays loopback-only behind it.
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## How it works
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The host installs a **`LocalSystem` SCM service** that runs from Session 0 and launches a worker into
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the interactive session (`CreateProcessAsUserW`). That lets it **capture the secure desktop** (UAC
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prompts, the lock screen) and keep streaming across reboots with nobody logged in — the same model
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Sunshine and Apollo use. Service registration, firewall rules, and the supervisor all live in
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`punktfunk-host service install`; the installer just lays the exe down and calls it elevated.
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### One core, Windows backends
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Most of punktfunk is platform-agnostic. `punktfunk-core` (protocol, FEC, crypto, session, transport,
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the C ABI), the QUIC control plane, the GameStream wire logic, the management API, and the per-frame
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pipeline orchestration are all shared with the Linux host. The Windows host is a set of
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`#[cfg(windows)]` backends behind the same traits the Linux host uses:
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| Subsystem | Linux backend | Windows backend |
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| **Capture** | xdg ScreenCast portal → PipeWire (dmabuf) | **Windows.Graphics.Capture** (+ Desktop Duplication for the secure desktop) → D3D11 texture; FP16/10-bit when the desktop is HDR |
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| **Virtual display** | KWin / Mutter / Sway / gamescope | **SudoVDA** signed IDD — create a `WxH@Hz` monitor per session, capture it, tear it down |
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| **Encode** | `ffmpeg-next` NVENC (CUDA hwframes) | **NVENC** with a D3D11 device (`--features nvenc`); HEVC Main10 / BT.2020 PQ for HDR |
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| **Input — mouse/keyboard** | libei / wlr protocols | **SendInput** (Win32 VK + absolute mouse) |
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| **Input — gamepads** | uinput Xbox 360 pad + rumble | **ViGEm** virtual pad + rumble back-channel |
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| **Audio capture** | PipeWire sink-monitor | **WASAPI loopback** |
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| **Virtual mic** | PipeWire `Audio/Source` | WASAPI virtual mic |
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The virtual display uses **[SudoVDA](https://github.com/VirtualDrivers)** (the Sunshine Virtual
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Display Adapter) — a pre-built, signed Indirect Display Driver — so there is **no kernel driver to
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author or WHQL-sign**. The installer bundles and stages it; if it's absent, the host falls back to
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capturing an existing monitor (losing the per-client native-resolution output).
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## Limitations
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- **NVIDIA-only.** NVENC is the only encoder backend — there is no AMD / Intel / software encode path
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on Windows.
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- **x64-only.** No ARM64 build (no ARM64 NVIDIA driver, and SudoVDA is x64-only).
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- **Newer than the Linux host.** The Linux host is the most battle-tested path; the Windows host is
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more recent, with the virtual-mic and gamepad backends the youngest pieces.
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