Windows endpoints#

The Hyper-V provider is qualified on Windows Server 2025 evaluation in an isolated nested lab. Actual checks cover inventory and start/history at N=1 and N=64, plus a bootable Linux guest's start, graceful shutdown and VMConnect display/input. Fullscreen, resize, keyboard release and grant revocation also passed. The N=64 fixtures were diskless and CPU limited; these results do not establish capacity for 64 guest operating systems or compatibility with other Windows versions. See provider support.

A Windows endpoint is separate from an enrolled SSH system. FICC runs on Linux. Register a Windows HTTPS WinRM endpoint and a fixed JEA configuration. Use the certificate PEM trust chain and the SHA-256 fingerprint of its leaf certificate. HTTP, Basic authentication, redirects, environment proxies and arbitrary scripts are not supported.

NTLM uses TLS channel binding. The account must have access to the selected JEA configuration.

The Windows endpoint ID is a system target for caller scopes. Reading endpoint metadata requires nodes:read. Endpoint changes require unrestricted nodes:write. A provider adapter also requires its separate digest-bound provider:admin grant. Ordinary workspace VM permissions do not restrict the provider account itself. Grant provider access only to a trusted adapter.

Register one to sixteen command names with exact parameter names. Include Get-FICCEndpointIdentity with no parameters. It must return one JSON string with machine_identity, a stable SHA-256 identity. Each command returns one bounded JSON string. The host sends command names and literal parameters through PSRP AddCommand and AddParameter; it does not evaluate a command script.

The optional Windows transport has its own interpreter and current locked libraries. It requires its recorded Linux build platform. The controller keeps its separate platform baseline. Build and install with:

FICC_WINDOWS_BUILD_ROOT=$(mktemp -d /tmp/ficc-windows-build.XXXXXXXX)
python3 tools/windows_runtime.py build --cache "$FICC_WINDOWS_BUILD_ROOT/cache" \
  --work "$FICC_WINDOWS_BUILD_ROOT/work" --output "$FICC_WINDOWS_BUILD_ROOT/runtime"
python3 tools/windows_runtime.py install --source "$FICC_WINDOWS_BUILD_ROOT/runtime" \
  --destination /approved/new/windows-runtime

The build root must belong to the current account with mode 0700. Use a new directory. The builder refuses a shared output parent or writable project ancestors. The installation destination must be new and have an approved private parent. Place the runtime beside the controller's Python prefix or inside that prefix. The host checks its inventory and platform before starting each helper. A hash inventory verifies local files; it does not identify or authenticate the publisher. Approve the source before installation.

The build requires a maintained Python, zstd and the pinned HTTPS inputs. It installs no host packages.

The runtime includes dependency notices, Python build metadata, CPython and Berkeley DB corresponding source, and build code.

The helper accepts at most 64 literal commands and eight concurrent requests. The host deadline is at most 30 seconds for adapter reads and commits. JSON output is at most 1 MiB, each HTTP response at most 2 MiB. The helper has a 512 MiB address limit and a 20-second CPU limit. Revocation, endpoint changes, timeout and service shutdown terminate its process group.

A lost response does not prove that a remote change failed. The adapter keeps that operation unknown until the operator inspects its outcome; it does not dispatch it again.

Credentials and certificate trust are private local files outside the database and backup archive. Restore disables endpoint records and increments their revisions. Re-enter missing accounts and trust before enabling a restored endpoint. The host probes identity before enabling and before command dispatch. For a command batch, the helper checks the expected machine identity in the same authenticated JEA session before it sends the requested commands. A mismatch refuses the complete batch. The host still checks endpoint revision and current grants while it supervises the helper. Connection or credential replacement and removal are refused while adapter profiles or receipts retain the endpoint. Disable remains available.

VMConnect uses a separate display account, registered port and certificate pin. It does not inherit the management password. A registered reference is opaque to runtime packages and browser components. The host passes credentials only to its private native display process. Actual provider and display support must pass its integration checks before it is listed as qualified.