winapps-mac

The winapps main project
Originally created by fmstrat https://github.com/Fmstrat/winapps/

Installation

Step 1: Set up a Windows Virtual Machine

The best solution for running a VM as a subsystem for WinApps would be KVM. KVM is a CPU and memory-efficient virtualization engine. To set up the VM for WinApps, follow this guide:

• Creating a Virtual Machine in KVM using UTM

If you already have a Virtual Machine or server you wish to use with WinApps, you will need to merge install/RDPApps.reg into the VM's Windows Registry. If this VM is in KVM and you want to use auto-IP detection, you will need to name the machine RDPWindows. Directions for both of these can be found in the guide linked above.

Step 2: Download the repo and prerequisites

To get things going, use:

brew install --cask xquartz # reboot after installing this
brew install coreutils freerdp
git clone -b legacy-macos https://github.com/winapps-org/winapps.git
cd winapps

Step 3: Creating your WinApps configuration file

You will need to create a ~/.config/winapps/winapps.conf configuration file with the following information in it:

RDP_USER="MyWindowsUser"
RDP_PASS="MyWindowsPassword"
#RDP_DOMAIN="MYDOMAIN"
RDP_IP="127.0.0.1"
#RDP_SCALE=100
#RDP_FLAGS=""
#MULTIMON="true"
#DEBUG="true"

The username and password should be a full user account and password, such as the one created when setting up Windows or a domain user. It cannot be a user/PIN combination as those are not valid for RDP access.

Options:

• When using a pre-existing non-KVM RDP server, you can use the RDP_IP to specify it's location
• For domain users, you can uncomment and change RDP_DOMAIN
• On high-resolution (UHD) displays, you can set RDP_SCALE to the scale you would like [100|140|160|180]
• To add flags to the FreeRDP call, such as /audio-mode:1 to pass in a mic, use the RDP_FLAGS configuration option
• For multi-monitor setups, you can try enabling MULTIMON, however if you get a black screen (FreeRDP bug) you will need to revert back
• If you enable DEBUG, a log will be created on each application start in ~/.local/share/winapps/winapps.log

Step 4: Run the WinApps installer

Lastly, check that FreeRDP can connect with:

bin/winapps check

You will see output from FreeRDP, as well as potentially have to accept the initial certificate. After that, a Windows Explorer window should pop up. You can close this window and press Ctrl-C to cancel out of FreeRDP.

If this step fails, try restarting the VM, or your problem could be related to:

• You need to accept the security cert the first time you connect (with 'check')
• Not enabling RDP in the Windows VM
• Not being able to connect to the IP of the VM
• Incorrect user credentials in ~/.config/winapps/winapps.conf
• Not merging install/RDPApps.reg into the VM

Running applications manually

WinApps offers a manual mode for running applications that are not configured. This is completed with the manual flag. Executables that are in the path do not require full path definition.

./bin/winapps manual "C:\my\directory\executableNotInPath.exe"
./bin/winapps manual executableInPath.exe

Currently, this is the only mode supported on macOS