App Sandbox 0.1.9
### Added
- Make NVIDIA Optical Flow and OptiX runtimes available to applications in Windows VMs on x64 Windows hosts.
### Fixed
- Improve NVIDIA CUDA and OpenCL compatibility, including fixes for GPU resource sharing and zero-copy video decoding in Windows VMs.
- Fix CUDA applications failing to find NVIDIA libraries in Linux VMs when launched over SSH or in background processes.
- Fix App Sandbox incorrectly reporting that Virtual Machine Platform is disabled on non-English Windows.
Thanks to @Jornar69 for identifying the issue and testing the fix ([#155](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/issues/155), [#156](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/pull/156)).
- Fix removing VMs from the list after their folders have been manually deleted on Windows and macOS.
Thanks to @arcol for reporting this ([#146](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/issues/146)).
Problem or feature
VMs could remain stuck in the list after their folders were manually deleted. Reported by @arcol in #146.
Suggested change
Allow Delete to remove these VMs from the list and saved configuration on Windows and macOS. Unavailable storage and permission errors still prevent deletion.
Testing
Verified with the Windows headless API: the old build failed with 0x80070002 after deleting the VM folder; the rebuilt app successfully removed the VM from the list and vms.cfg. Windows build passed. macOS was code-reviewed, not runtime-tested.
Fixes#146.
Remove the saved VM entry on Windows and macOS when its folder has already been deleted. Preserve errors for inaccessible storage and other deletion failures.
Verified through the Windows headless API: the previous build fails with 0x80070002; the rebuilt app removes the VM from the list and vms.cfg. macOS code reviewed; not runtime-tested.
Fixes#146.
Improve NVIDIA compute and video compatibility in Windows VMs, and fix CUDA library discovery in Linux VMs.
Fix CUDA zero-copy video decoding and CUDA/OpenCL applications failing to share resources with Direct3D 11 because of mismatched GPU identities.
Make the host's NVIDIA Optical Flow and OptiX runtimes available to Windows applications through normal VM provisioning.
Correct NVIDIA library search order for CUDA in Linux VMs over SSH and in background processes.
Reduce duplicated NVIDIA adapter lookup, installation and build configuration while preserving existing VM compatibility.
The existing build, signing, packaging and P9 file-transfer paths remain in use. The file-list format is unchanged, so older agents continue receiving the existing OpenGL, Vulkan and DLSS shims.
Validation: full Windows x64 build, including the 32-bit OpenGL/Vulkan shim, and a fresh NVIDIA Windows VM created from a template. All 251 active-file checks passed before and after reboot. Functional checks produced 54 passes and two skips matching the host, covering CUDA/Direct3D/Vulkan sharing, NVDEC zero-copy, OpenCL, OpenGL, PyTorch training/checkpoints and video encoding/decoding. All 24 native API checks passed again after reboot. Vulkan DLSS was also confirmed working in DOOM Eternal.
Optical Flow and OptiX checks cover initialization/context creation; full workloads were not tested. The 32-bit shim was built and deployment-verified; the automated runtime suite is x64.
Share adapter identity lookup, consolidate NVIDIA project settings, and reuse runtime installation helpers. Preserve resource paths, the agent file-list format, and released NVAPI export ordinals.
Fix Windows CUDA and OpenCL adapter identity handling and provision NVIDIA Optical Flow and OptiX runtimes through the existing GPU copy path. Include the new shims in the existing build, signing and packaging pipeline.
Prioritize the Linux WSL library directory so CUDA loads from SSH sessions and background processes.
App Sandbox 0.1.8
### Added
- Choose a specific GPU when creating or editing a VM on Windows, with automatic fallback if that GPU becomes unavailable.
Thanks to @TejasPersonal, @Mungr3ss and @JasonSTX for requesting this ([#109](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/issues/109)), and @trevmlt for documenting the multi-GPU problem and a workaround ([#110](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/issues/110)).
### Fixed
- Preserve VM MAC addresses across restarts on Windows and macOS, allowing router address reservations to keep working.
Thanks to @kurokawaikki for identifying the changing MAC addresses ([#92](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/issues/92)).
- Keep automatic login enabled and prevent password expiry for newly created Windows VMs on Windows and macOS hosts.
Thanks to @macg4dave for reporting unexpected login prompts ([#133](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/issues/133)).
- Fix network setup failures when starting multiple VMs at the same time on Windows.
- Reduce unexpected SSH port changes on Windows by retrying the saved port, with clearer failure messages.
- Fix missing network drivers in newly created Windows VMs on macOS.
Thanks to @YiwenLu-yiwen for reporting the failed download and confirming the workaround ([#107](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/issues/107#issuecomment-5689676123)).
On Windows hosts, choose a GPU by name when creating or editing a VM through the UI or API. Identically named GPUs can be distinguished, and unavailable GPUs fall back to Default GPU.
Keep VM MAC addresses stable across restarts on Windows and macOS hosts, including existing VMs.
Fix shared-network creation races when starting multiple VMs at once on Windows.
Keep automatic login enabled and prevent account passwords expiring for newly created Windows VMs on Windows and macOS hosts.
Retry the saved SSH proxy port before choosing a replacement, and log bind failures on Windows.
Update Windows VM creation on macOS to download the ARM64 network driver from main.
App Sandbox 0.1.7
### Added
- NVIDIA DLSS support in compatible Vulkan games running in Windows VMs on x64 Windows hosts.
Thanks to @darkjezza for reporting this ([#139](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/issues/139)).
- A dedicated VM settings dialog on Windows and macOS, and a clearer snapshot and branch manager on Windows.
### Fixed
- Corrected GPU and network information on macOS and removed unsupported network options.
VM settings and snapshots move out of inline table controls into dedicated dialogs, using the existing app styling and snapshot behavior.
Changed
Edit CPU and memory in a dedicated dialog on Windows and macOS hosts, with Save and Cancel. Windows hosts also support editing GPU and network settings.
Manage snapshots and branches in a tree dialog on Windows hosts, with creation, rename, and delete actions. The previous choice and new selection are marked with (current) and (selected).
Keep settings changes disabled while a VM is running or its disk is being built, and show an error if an edit fails.
Correctly show software rendering for Windows VMs on macOS hosts.
Show the actual NAT networking used on macOS hosts and hide unsupported network choices during VM creation.
App Sandbox 0.1.6
### Added
- Native NVIDIA OpenGL and Vulkan support in Windows VMs on x64 Windows hosts, including 32-bit games and applications.
**Special thanks to @Poldino95 for figuring out why NVIDIA's native graphics drivers weren't working inside VMs and demonstrating working solutions. Their detailed research provided the foundation for these improvements.** ([#130](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/pull/130), [#131](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/pull/131))
Thanks also to @N1qro for reporting Vulkan game launch failures ([#73](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/issues/73)).
- NVIDIA DLSS support in compatible 64-bit games running in Windows VMs on x64 Windows hosts.
Thanks again to @Poldino95 for identifying what prevented DLSS from working and demonstrating the solution ([#129](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/pull/129)), and @Giraffe886 for raising this ([#98](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/issues/98)).
### Fixed
- Improved OpenGL and Vulkan support for Intel and AMD GPUs in Windows VMs by using their native graphics drivers, including supplying missing AMD driver files.
- Fixed Ubuntu 26.04.1 VMs getting stuck during installation.
Thanks to @EzYDark for diagnosing the package compatibility problem and proposing a fix ([#120](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/pull/120)).
- Fixed Firefox failing to launch in newly created Ubuntu VMs.
Thanks to @EzYDark for identifying the cause and proposing a fix ([#120](https://github.com/jamesstringer90/appsandbox/pull/120)).
- Fixed package update errors in newly created Ubuntu VMs caused by leftover installation-disc sources.
Improves OpenGL and Vulkan support for Windows VMs on x64 Windows hosts.
NVIDIA GPUs now support native OpenGL and Vulkan, including 32-bit applications.
Fixed missing AMD OpenGL and Vulkan driver files in Windows VMs.
Intel and AMD VMs now use their native graphics runtimes by default instead of Mesa.
The NVIDIA components build, sign, and bundle through the existing release process and install through the existing guest-agent file transfer. Native runtime setup requires the updated guest agent; older agents retain their existing graphics setup.
Fixed Ubuntu 26.04.1 VMs getting stuck during installation.
Fixed Firefox failing to launch in newly created Ubuntu VMs.
Fixed apt update errors caused by leftover installation-media sources.
Verified installation, Firefox launch, and apt update on fresh Ubuntu 26.04 and 26.04.1 VMs on Windows hosts.
Build and stage x64 and x86 NVIDIA shims through the existing solution and deploy them through P9 and the guest agent. Include active AMD runtime packages and prefer native OpenGL and Vulkan on NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel guests.
Correct the Xcode file reference and CoreGraphics API call. Keep creation actions disabled for invalid configuration and use the v0.1.5 ARM64 guest resource ZIP.
App Sandbox 0.1.4
- **Windows 11 (ARM64) VMs on macOS.** On an Apple Silicon Mac, App Sandbox can
now create and run Windows 11 ARM guests -- previously a macOS host could only
run macOS guests. The Windows guest gets its own display window, keyboard and
mouse, sound, clipboard (including copying files to and from your Mac),
one-click SSH, and networking, and is built from a Windows 11 ARM64 ISO you
provide. It runs on a self-contained virtual-machine engine bundled with the
app, and the guest agent and drivers are downloaded (code-signed) when you
create the VM, so no test-signed components ship inside App Sandbox.
- **Non-ASCII usernames and passwords now work when creating a VM through the
scriptable API.** Characters outside plain ASCII (for example Chinese) arrive
from the API JSON-escaped; App Sandbox stored the escape sequences literally
instead of decoding them, so a VM created via the API with such a credential
would reject the login. They are now decoded correctly. (The desktop app was
unaffected.)
- **The virtual display now recovers if it gets disabled in the guest.** The
guest agent kept trying to restart the App Sandbox display driver -- which
can't re-enable a disabled device -- so the picture never came back; it is now
re-enabled and recovers.
- Various stability and bug fixes across the Windows and macOS components.
- **Windows VMs on macOS are not GPU-accelerated.**
- **x64 (emulated) apps in ARM Windows VMs don't get the OpenGL fix** -- the Mesa
driver shipped on ARM is ARM64-only; native ARM64 apps get full GPU OpenGL.
(carried over from 0.1.2)
- **ARM Linux (Ubuntu 26.04 LTS) guests do not work -- on ARM, Windows is the
only working guest** (Ubuntu 26.04's arm64 kernel churns BPF JIT memory and
never reaches the desktop). (carried over from 0.1.2)
## Summary
Adds support for running **Windows 11 ARM64 guests on macOS (Apple Silicon) hosts**.
Until now a macOS host ran only macOS guests (Virtualization.framework); this branch boots
Windows guests on a bundled **QEMU + Hypervisor.framework (HVF)** VMM, with an **ivshmem
shared-memory transport** carrying every guest channel — agent control, display (VDD), input,
audio, clipboard, SSH, and 9P — so **no guest networking is required**. The same headless
HTTP/JSON API and GUI now create Windows guests on a Mac, and Windows-on-Windows behaviour
is unchanged.
## How it works
- **Transport** (`tools/transport`): a single guest transport API with two backends — PC
`AF_HYPERV` (unchanged) and Mac **ivshmem** — over an SPSC ring. `src/backend_mac` maps the
ivshmem BAR and runs the host side of each channel; the launcher publishes the region
directory and the guest reads its geometry at boot.
- **Guest driver** (`tools/ivshmem`): an in-house KMDF ivshmem BAR-mapping driver
(**AppSandboxSHM**, `PCI\VEN_1AF4&DEV_1110`) — no third party — built through the same VS
pipeline as VDD/VAD and MS-attestation-signed.
- **VMM**: a vendored **QEMU 11.0.1 fork** with `ivshmem-plain` (`vendor/qemu-ivshmem`),
embedded self-contained in the app bundle (codesigned with the Hypervisor entitlement), with
the LGPL source mirror for compliance. This is the bulk of the diff (vendored upstream).
- **Disk build / provisioning**: a from-scratch ISO→NTFS disk builder (`tools/iso-patch-mac`)
applies the install image and stages the payload + answer file. `unattend.xml` / `setup.cmd`
/ `SetupComplete.cmd` are generated by the **shared** `tools/provision/win_provision.c` used
by both the Windows backend and the Mac host — one generator, no platform fork.
## Guest payload
The Mac host **JIT-downloads** the signed Windows release zip (EV-signed agent EXEs +
**MS-attestation-signed** drivers, incl. AppSandboxSHM), caches it, and pulls the WHQL-signed
**NetKVM** virtio-net driver from a vendored zip (`vendor/virtio-win`). No test-signed Windows
binaries ship in the app bundle.
## Credentials
- The account credential is **obfuscated/hashed in the daemon** for all configs — the
disk-applier child only ever receives the non-plaintext result, so the plaintext never
crosses the process boundary. Win-on-Mac generates the base64 `unattend.xml` in-process;
macOS guests get a salted PBKDF2-SHA512 ShadowHash + kcpassword computed in-process
(`tools/provision/mac_account_hash.{h,m}`).
- **Non-ASCII (incl. CJK) credentials** are handled correctly: the unattend `<Password>` is
encoded as true UTF-16LE and the headless SDK's JSON `\uXXXX` escapes are decoded. Verified
with a 12-character mixed Chinese/English password (`ValidateCredentials` on Windows,
`dscl -authonly` on macOS).
## Testing
- Full **2× Windows-11 concurrent lifecycle suite green** (4 GB / 4 cores / 64 GB each):
create → disk build → boot-to-online → SSH key auto-deploy → display open/close →
edit-while-stopped → shutdown/restart → delete; snapshots correctly return `501` on macOS.
- Guests reach agent-online with the attestation-signed drivers under Secure Boot.
- CJK password authenticated inside both Windows and macOS guests.
## Deploy note
The signed-payload URL points at the **v0.1.4 release** — that release must be published, or a
Windows-on-Mac create fails with "Signed Windows guest payload download failed".
James Stringer