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Refresh the README and documentation for public visitors: - README: public-facing rewrite with accurate status for all four native clients (macOS, Linux, Windows, Android) and the Windows host. - docs site: fix stale client status (Android is a full client, not a scaffold; Windows client is stage-1 complete + signed MSIX), add the missing Android client section, correct "which client" guidance. - Windows host: corrected from "deferred/scoped" to implemented & shipping (NVIDIA-only, x64-only) across windows-host, roadmap, status, requirements, running-as-a-service, and the README. - Remove internal infrastructure from public docs (box names, private IPs, SSH/token commands, deploy topology); rewrite status.md as a public project-status page; sanitize ci.md and implementation-plan.md. - Update clients/android and clients/apple READMEs to current state. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
71 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
71 lines
4.0 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. It's newer and less battle-tested than the Linux host, and it is built
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specifically around NVIDIA hardware.
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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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## 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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|---|---|---|
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| **Capture** | xdg ScreenCast portal → PipeWire (dmabuf) | **DXGI Desktop Duplication** → D3D11 texture |
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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`) |
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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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