Comrades I challenge you to find the stupidest, most convoluted way to run a Windows app !

The rules are :

  • You start with Windows and end with a Windows app
  • All steps must be different, so no using 4 different VM software

Here is my entry, with a score of 9 beautifully stupid steps :

  • Windows > WSL > WSL Wayland compatibility layer > Linux Wayland session > XWayland > QEMU > macOS > Wine > Windows app !

Can anyone do better ? I’m sure whoever get the highest score will gain eternal fame !

  • olympicyes@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    4 hours ago

    Did you actually get that to run or is this a fun thought exercise? It seems like a lot of nested virtualization. If you’re clever enough maybe you could get Windows > WSL > WSL Wayland compatibility layer > Ubuntu Wayland session > LXC > Fedora > QEMU > macOS > Wine > Windows app

    • phantomwise@lemmy.mlOP
      1·
      44 minutes ago

      I really want to try it because I can’t resist stupid projects, but I’m stuck on a crappy old Thinkpad for now, and it probably would die at step 1 install Windows 11 😅 So it’s only theoretical for now, but I hope to try it whenever I get a new PC !

      • olympicyes@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        29 minutes ago

        I needed to make a docker image based on Core OS (RedHat) and the docker host had to be RHEL compatible. My machine is Ubuntu. To get it to work, I installed Rocky Linux on LXC and docker inside that machine. Turns out there are a lot of security settings isolating LXC and restricting nested virtualization, but fortunately Canonical posts a 20 minute video explaining how to modify the permissions for that use case. I cannot imagine virtualizing much further without the machine refusing to comply!

  • lengau
    6·
    7 hours ago

    Fewer steps than yours, but I’ll claim this as a win in the “purity” field where you have to stop at the first layer where you can run a Windows app.

    Linux on a RISC-V device -> container -> qemu-user + binfmt -> x86 VM software -> FreeBSD -> Linux binary compatibility -> Wine -> Windows app

    • phantomwise@lemmy.mlOP
      1·
      49 minutes ago

      I didn’t think of that ! 🤯 There definitely would be a way to do something even stupider with multiple PC

  • Dagamant@lemmy.world
    33·
    19 hours ago

    I don’t remember the exact process but I ran Linux on computer A and windows on computer B. I installed windows onto a second drive on computer B and set Virtual box on computer A to use that drive as its boot drive over the network. I then shared the primary drive as well so I could boot computer B into either Windows install and run the other as a VM on Computer A.

    I have no idea why I did this but it worked and no one was impressed.

  • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today
    13·
    17 hours ago

    Not sure about better but I can add a step. Fire up Microsoft word, then write a macro which outputs a shortcut that launches Internet explorer with a URL that loads and local HTML page which after 1 second redirects to a .exe. then click open instead of save as. That only works with really old school internet explorer of course not the modern edge version.

  • tisktisk@piefed.socialEnglish
    18·
    20 hours ago

    Have you…you haven’t…actually tested this out, have you? Surely someone wouldn’t actually do this. Pics or didn’t happen

  • yeehaw@lemmy.ca
    2·
    15 hours ago

    So a windows application, or “Windows app” AKA remote desktop? Smh at Microsoft…

  • data1701d (He/Him)@startrek.websiteEnglish
    4·
    18 hours ago

    Do attempts without Windows as the first step count e.g running Windows in QEMU on Wine on Linux?

    Also, depending on which version of WSL you used, you might be breaking your own rule with WSL on VMs since WSL2 uses Hyper-V. You might also be breaking it again with QEMU.

    What actually counts as “VM software”? Are you defining it as a hypervisor, or does, for instance, emulating Linux on ARM in an emulator of a RISC V system in an emulator of a PowerPC system break the rule. In addition, do you mean consecutive VM software steps, or could I for instance emulate an ARM CPU that supports hypervisors and run a VM software in there?

    • phantomwise@lemmy.mlOP
      1·
      44 minutes ago

      No but if anyone is crazy enough to try please share pics 😀

      (I would try but… I only have an old laptop that can’t even manage step 1… those Win 11 hardware requirements ) 💀