Hello!
This is my first post here, and I was reading a lot about Whonix, but still being lost (mainly because I am mostly Windows user… yes, I know… ).
I am looking for help to create following setup:
Internet ↔ ISP modem/router-WiFi ↔ WiFi on Linux Mint Laptop + Whonix-gateway LAN ↔ LAN regular Windows 11 Workstation separate laptop.
In this example we have 2 separate laptops.
1st Linux laptop - with 2 NICs: 1st WiFi only to connect to modem/ISP router and 2nd Ethernet NIC to connect wired only to switch between Linux Laptop and Windows Laptop
2nd Windows laptop - with only 1 NIC Ethernet connecting to mentioned above switch (no WiFi at all)
Is it possible to connect from Windows 11 laptop to 2nd laptop running Whonix-gateway and then connect to hosts in Internet using TOR network?
Do I need to use Whonix-workstation running on Windows machine?
I need to skip usage of VirtualBox/VmWare at all. Just pure linux (mint cinnamon in my case) on 1st laptop and Windows 11 on 2nd laptop.
Unfortunately Windows laptop (not VM!) is mandatory in this setup due to advanced AutoCAD application usage.
I’m a bit confused by this requirement; if you have to run Linux Mint on one laptop with no VMs, and you have to run Windows on the other laptop with no VMs, where will Whonix fit into the picture? It has to run on some hardware, virtual or otherwise, but the setup you’ve described provides no hardware for it to run. I assume what you meant is that you cannot run Windows in a VM, but can run Whonix VMs on the Linux Mint machine.
Satisfying the rest of your requirements could be hard. You’d need to tunnel all traffic from the Windows machine through the Whonix-Gateway VM, without allowing the Windows machine to talk to the Linux Mint machine and bypass the gateway. This might be possible with carefully made firewall rules and network configuration, but that is likely to be very hard.
The other method you might be able to use is to use hardware passthrough to attach the Ethernet NIC directly to the Whonix-Gateway VM as its internal network. Then the Windows machine will talk directly to Whonix rather than Linux Mint. This also is hard, though if your hardware allows it, I’d expect it to be less hard than the network configuration method.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I can help much further, as I don’t have the time needed to try either of these methods, and don’t have the needed experience to give instructions for either method without trying them first.
arraybolt3: Thank you very much for your prompt answer!
My main need was/is to be able to tunel whatever goes outside of Windows laptop through TOR. I think for now I have found very interesting solution, It is router with TOR implemented.
I purchased one already ( Flint 3e (GL-BE6500) from GL.inet ) and as soon as it comes (Wednesday probably) i will test it and let you know if works as expected.