[Bug 59714] New: Add support for loading and executing ring-0/ring-1 virtualization drivers (Hypervisor bypass/Custom VBS)

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=59714

            Bug ID: 59714
           Summary: Add support for loading and executing ring-0/ring-1
                    virtualization drivers (Hypervisor bypass/Custom VBS)
           Product: Wine
           Version: unspecified
          Hardware: x86-64
                OS: Linux
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: P2
         Component: ntoskrnl
          Assignee: [e-mail]
          Reporter: [e-mail]
      Distribution: ---

Hello developers,

First off, thanks for your work on Wine and for all that you do.

I want to bring up the topic of one of Wine's limitations related to its
ability to run software depending on kernel-mode drivers and hypervisor-based
features.

Summary

Some new applications have requirements of:

Custom kernel-mode drivers
Virtualization-based protection mechanisms
Execution in virtualization-assisted mode (such as usage of VT-x / AMD-V)

Such apps fail to start with Wine because:

Wine lacks any possibility to load and execute kernel-mode Windows drivers
There is no way to access host-level virtualization features
Implementation of ntoskrnl is not capable to handle such situations

Observed behavior

When started:

Drivers cannot load successfully or report errors
Sometimes, Wine might crash or terminate without reason
There are no errors that hint at necessity of virtualization or kernel-mode
execution

Expected / desired behavior

While I know that full support of kernel-mode drivers and hypervisor-level
execution is not in Wine's roadmap.

It would still be nice to see the following improvements made:

Detection and diagnostics
Detect if the application tries to:
Load kernel-mode driver
Utilize virtualization instructions or hypervisor APIs
Display an error that explicitly states that such functionality is not
supported by Wine
Documentation improvements
Documentation about:
Restrictions around kernel-mode execution
Incompatibility of applications dependent on virtualization features
Alternatives in running such programs (e.g. KVM-based VM)
Research in possible hybrid solutions (long-term)
Look into possible ways to integrate with the host OS's virtualization (e.g.
KVM), possibly for selected scenarios, even if partially
Some kind of experimental flag or limited feature set could be useful for
research and tooling purposes

Use cases

Better diagnostics of the issue would be useful for:

Debugging of incompatibilities
Running software which requires virtualization or kernel-mode operation
Development tools that need low-level control of the system

Closing notes

I realize that Wine cannot provide kernel-mode and hypervisor-based features.
My suggestion rather focuses on:
Visibility into the issue
Improved handling of such applications
Error reporting

-- 
Do not reply to this email, post in Bugzilla using the
above URL to reply.
You are receiving this mail because:
You are watching all bug changes.

[Bug 59714] Add support for loading and executing ring-0/ring-1 virtualization drivers (Hypervisor bypass/Custom VBS)

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=59714

Austin English <[e-mail]> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

-- 
Do not reply to this email, post in Bugzilla using the
above URL to reply.
You are receiving this mail because:
You are watching all bug changes.