The problem with the old Whonix Windows installer was that it required an actual Windows to build the Whonix Windows Starter as well as the Whonix Windows Installer. Therefore it required a contributor to keep building the WIndows installer. A manual, repetitive, laborious, tedious process. The contributor is no longer active. Hence the Whonix Windows Installer was deprecated.
The new wixl based Whonix Windows Installer can be cross build from Linux for Windows. Build dependencies are available from packages.debian.org. Therefore it can be automated, integrated into the Whonix build process. Then maintenance should be much easier. Cross building documentation isn’t available yet and integration into Whonix build process (derivative-maker) is still open TODO.
Integration into Whonix build process was done.
Todo:
- Acquiring an EV code signing certificate for Windows authenticode to avoid Microsoft SmartScreen Filter warning message,
- signature creation automation.
Running into a GitLab 100 MB maximum file size restriction for Kicksecure / VirtualBox Windows Installer Binary · GitLab which the new VirtualBox Windows exe slightly exceeds.
GitHub has the same issue.
GitHub blocks files larger than 100 MiB.
At time of writing, Whonix Windows Installer hasn’t been released yet.
Once/if it is released, it can be easily found on the usual download page. Download Whonix (FREE)
Meanwhile users can use Whonix for Windows, macOS, Linux inside VirtualBox.
related documentation work in progress: