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Drop the "Linux-first" framing across the README and docs site in favor of first-class Linux AND Windows hosts, and surface the Windows IDD-push virtual-display path as a distinct differentiator (punktfunk's own indirect display driver the host pushes frames into — a real virtual display, no physical monitor or dummy plug, even on the secure desktop). Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
81 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
81 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "Windows Host"
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description: "Run the punktfunk streaming host on a Windows PC — a first-class, virtual-display host."
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---
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**Status: implemented and shipping — x64-only.** Alongside the Linux host, punktfunk runs as a
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first-class 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. punktfunk has its own **indirect display driver (IDD)** that the host pushes finished frames
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straight into, so you get a real on-the-fly virtual display with no physical monitor or dummy HDMI
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plug — even on the secure desktop (UAC / lock screen). The Windows host is newer and less
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battle-tested than the Linux host. (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 bun 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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|---|---|---|
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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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