You could use VNC for remote connection to the Windows 11 Home computer, but I don’t think that allows copy/paste.
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You can’t remote to W11 without Pro unless you use an app like TeamViewer or Anydesk, which I do, but you cannot copy/paste images, only text and file transfers. We are just trying to get a KVM options since Barrier works after initial setup but then stops working and I can never get it back.
Thanks,
Sheila
Could not agree more with that.
HI Shiela,
Here is where we get to with Virt-manager.
I run virt-manager ( which is a gui for qemu/kvm) in Void Linux.
I have set up a Debian 11 guest VM, and you can see it running in the screen below
The large window on left is debianvm, and the little window on lower right is the virt-manager control window.
You can see in the debianvm terminal window that spice-vdagent and spice-vdagentd are running.
Now I open a file manager window in the Void host and in debianvm
You can see Thunar in Void on the left and Gnome Files in debianvm on the right.
I pick an image in the Thunar window and drag it to the Files window, and you can see it being dragged across the files window on the lower left corner in the menu column.
Now I finish dragging it into Files, drop it, and it appears, not in the Home directory but in Downloads
So it copies the image across from the host to the VM.
Just to check, I double click on it in the Downloads subdir in Files
and yes, the image is really there, it is not just a thumbnail
So with a virt-manager VM , you can not only copy/past text, you can drag and drop images from host to guest
but
the strange thing is… it only works in that direction. I can not drag and drop from guest to host?
I can copy/paste text in both directions, but drag and drop only works from host to guest???
That bears further investigation.
Also if you are going to consider VM, we need to try a Windows guest.
I tried a spice plugin with Remmina… doesnt work .
Regards
Neville
PS
So maybe Gnome Boxes is the best VM for this?
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It is here, see @Rosika’s reply
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So you can drag an existing image file from host to guest machine. That means it would have to be a saved file already existing on the host machine. Drap & drop is not supported in any KVM with Linux (including barrier & synergy) so that is a plus for this method, although one I can live without as long as copy/paste functions. And drag & drop does not work in RPM solutions that we have.
The issue here is that the guest needs to be Window 11 and the host Linux, because the majority of the time I use this is copying from W11 and pasting to Linux. Unless I missed something, these things work on Linux…not Windows.
So this method can only copy/paste image files, not just something on the screen of one machine without screenshot and save image file. Which is okay, but that can be done in Anydesk or Mega since we are talking about actually downloading a file from one to another.
I guess since the goal is to copy/paste anything (including error popups in Windows, a website link currently open in a browser on W11 or especially some text on the page in that browser tab that I wish to paste to my notebook on Linux or even into another tab currently open in Linux browser) this doesn’t actually replace a KVM switch app.
Most importantly, since I try to mainly use my Linux machine for all my work and only go to Windows for apps that do not work in Linux or because it is my laptop and I am away from home using it, I must have the ability to copy from W11 to Linux. Drap & drop is nicer and if we could get it working to move from W11 to Linux, I would consider this because anything could be saved as a file, image or other, in W11, thus making it possible to get it over to Linux.
Yesterday, I tried a final attempt to get Barrier working again, uninstalling (& self-removing every trace of prior installation as each re-install keeps finding stuff from previous installs) from both machines, reinstalling AND using what @TrekJunky taught me yesterday about creating a systemd service file and placing it in systemd so we could check that the service was actually running after install (to date it always says it does not exist) because @abhishek suggested Barrier is not creating the systemd service file. But still it does not work.
So am about at my wits end with Barrier. If you can figure out how to make this work between W11 and Linux, both ways, I will attempt to set it all up and see what happens; of course, it will require a lot of assistance as this is all new territory for me. But I am eager to learn another facet of Linux.
Thanks so much,
Sheila
@nevj I am always patient with others…myself not so much. 
I will await your instructions.
Thanks,
Sheila
@Rosika @nevj I must not know what I am doing in Github as I normally see the following:
Then I scroll down and find the packages to download. OR I look to the right and find them. In the above instance, No Packages Published is under Packages and Releases (which normally shows me versions, it only says 14 tags.
Where on this page do I find the actual download link? The list in repology only showed Fedora, Nix and Arch and Mac.
Confused,
Sheila
UPDATE: I clicked on 14 tags and got to the zip files but I have no clue as when I read through all the files/settings after download, a LOT of this is exactly like Barrier; it is a fork of Barrier which is supposedly no longer maintained. So I am not sure this is a fix for barrier if barrier is not working. Maybe someone who understands this stuff can explain it to me.
Thanks,
Sheila
Hi Shiela,
Thank you.
I now have a better understanding now of what you need.
Last night I downloaded tinyW11. I will make a VM with that and see how it performs. I understand that Windows is critical for you .
Also I need to test copy/paste more… say from stuff in a browser that does not exist as a file… I think that will work for text at least.
Also @Rosika and I got our heads together last night, and we have a method which allows drag and drop of FILES in both directions.
We need a bit more of that patience, I am afraid
Regards
Neville
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That is correct… there are no pre-made binary packages
You have to clone the entire repository to your own machine, and do a build.
It is a big job, and there does not seem to be any build instructions.
I would call that a last resort.
Are you sure your Linux does not have this as a package , or a snap, or a flatpak, or an appimage?
And , on barrier, how sure arr you that the issues with instability you are having are due to barrier itself, rather than your config being wrong, or your network setup not being suitable, or your OS not having all the support pieces running?
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Hi @nevj and thanks for the reply.
I got thinking about this whole W11 thing. Let me preface with “I HATE Windows” and all things MS. The only reason it is necessary, for now, is not for my current business. It is that I have been looking for remote work since husband retires this year and current business will end. And as you can guess, every potential employer uses MS products (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.). That is the only reason I must keep a windows computer. BUT, if you can get it working in a VM, would it be the same as having the full OS on my laptop?
I would still have much to learn (I think) to get this setup and understand how anything might operate differently as opposed to a regular W11 install, but I feel so much of the issues I encounter are based on my laptop being on MS vs Linux.
I guess my questions are:
- Does it put anymore of a hardware strain to use a Windows OS in a VM?
- Is there much of a noticeable lag?
- Will I be able to use any Windows software within that virtual environment, including a browser to access sites I might have to use in the course of work from home employment?
Because as of now, there are only 2 reasons for keeping my laptop on Windows: the issue with employment that might require Windows apps and while I do use a front end for WINE app to play my Windows games, there are several that do not work. That is why I mentioned earlier I had thought about learning to do this VM thing, provided it would resolve these two things, and then I would simply run Linux on my laptop and I think that would resolve a few of the issues I have (including Barrier).
Let me know your thoughts and thanks for doing all of this for me.
Sheila
@nevj now onto the Barrier issue.
In the past, any apps (like Barrier) that I got from Github actually had the package for download, thus my confusion on the other app. BUT, since it is a fork of barrier and I saw the files in use named exactly the same as those in barrier, I do not think is going to resolve anything. Part of me now is wondering, as you asked, maybe it’s not even Linux that is the issue? Maybe it is W11 as I keep seeing on that side it is not connecting. And Linux Mint does not have this new package–I checked.
I told you I did the service file creation and saw & confirmed Barrier is now working/running in my Linux Mint, yet it still reports no neighbor to the right, and maybe that is on the other side of things.
As for the only other viable solution: paying $59 for Synergy (which is exactly like barrier?) it, too, would fail me if the issue is W11.
So I will patiently wait till you can determine the VM solution.
Thanks,
Sheila
Hi Sheila - it’s been a couple years since I used Synergy on Windows (10) - but it worked flawlessly…
I’ve never used it to drag and drop files or bitmap images… But I use the shared clipboard extensively for text, I couldn’t imagine working without that feature - it worked 100% across Windows and Linux…
These days I only have MacOS and Linux, and shared clipboard for text works 100%… But no sharing or drag and drop of image / bitmap data.
Here’s something that might work (I don’t need it - so not willing to try it out for myself) :
Also - not quite ready to try out Synergy 3 yet, even though I’m entitled.
- no arm64 binaries (e.g. for Pop!_OS on my Raspberry Pi 4 “desktop”) for client/server yet
- still in “release candidate” - i.e. not quite ready for primetime…
I actually did try Synergy 3 on both my Macs - but it was a PITA and very disruptive - so I rolled back to Synergy 1.14.6…
Note : I didn’t even know that allegedly there are some drag and drop features in Synergy - but I can’t get them to work - nor shared clipboard for things like photos…
Note also : I don’t need this feature - I save ALL my work onto folders shared using Resilio Sync - i.e. if I save a document to ~/Documents on Pop!_OS (which is a symlink to ~/ReslioSync/bigshit/Document) - in a matter of seconds, I can see it on my other Linux machine(s) and my MacBooks… Synergy and Resilio Sync are two products I bought pro licenses for - 'cause I use 'em like a Pro… Only other software I’ve paid for recently was MobaXterm - which I use on Windows servers so I can get a bash shell and do all my NIX stuff without having to use PuTTY which is ugly and inelegant and is just AWFUL at using SSH keys…
It would look the same. tThe izsues with VM are
- communication between VM and host
- having enough hardware… you need maybe 16Gb of ram, and maybe 4 cpus and some spare disk space to store thd VM files
There is practically no lag if the hardware is adequate
You can install any widdows software.
You can use a browser… it sets up a virtual ethernet interface which is bridged to your
real network in the host machine
The big issue is communication. That is why @Rosika and I did that topic “Communication between host and guest using …” to show people how to move files in and out of a VM guest and how to mount a host filesystem inside the guest. Read that topic, but that is not enough for you because it is linux to linux. You need a windows guest. We have to try one and see what is possible.
Thanks for the background.
It is worth seeing this thru, just to learn what is possible with VM
Regards
Neville
@daniel.m.tripp thanks for the info. My look at Synergy Features did not mention drag & drop (think I read somewhere that doesn’t work between Linux and other OS) but that doesn’t work for me now. It does, however, state that both text and images are copied to the clipboard and can be pasted on connected computers. I don’t need to transfer image files or any “file” as I have Mega for that and even Anydesk can do that. It’s mainly on web pages in Windows where I have to use chat and in forums where I need to grab a large block of text or an image and copy/paste to Linux.
Since I just did my first systemd service file for Barrier (and it worked…lol) I appreciate the guidance the article gave on creating one in Synergy.
If I could somehow get rid of W11 on my laptop and still have access to the most requested MS apps in the workforce, I would in a heartbeat and then I think there would be resolution of a lot of issues I encounter. Am discussing with @nevj about seeing if I can just do W11 in a VM and as long as I can copy/paste, even without drag & drop, I would be okay with that. But I am keeping Synergy in mind, it’s just after viewing log files on Windows, I am beginning to think IT is the problem.
Thanks,
Sheila
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@nevj yes, I agree, let’s see it through.
As to the hardware, I have plenty on both my Linux desktop and the laptop. 16-32 gb RAM, i7/i9 processors and multiple SSDs plus external HDDs. So I don’t expect that to be an issue.
But communication between VM and host, obviously that’s a hurdle, but to what extent for my needs, not sure.
Thank you again for all your hard work and keep me posted as I would love to only use Windows (and it doesn’t have to be 11, can be 10, it’s just the laptop supported it so I upgraded, regrettably) in a VM and switch to another version of Linux on my laptop so I can learn a different system (Since I already have 2 Linux installs on the home pc).
In the meantime, I am trying to use the hardware switches on both keyboard and mouse, it just doesn’t come naturally yet, click-click on mouse and hit the right key (or remember to) on keyboard to switch.
Thanks,
Sheila
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Wow!
I just tried it - didn’t realise I could do that! Here’s me using the pro version of the product for 5 years and never used it like that!
Copied an image (of Oppenheimer) on a website on my Linux Desktop (the Synergy server) - and then went and pasted it into an email in Gmail on one of my Macs!
Learn something new every day!
Did the reverse - copied to the clipboard on my MacBook, and pasted in here using Brave on my Pop!_OS desktop machine…
(note - it can be a little inconsistent, sometimes it copies the actual bitmap data, sometimes it copies the IMG URL)
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Hi Shiela,
I have to report very limited progress
I put tinywin11 in a virt-manager VM today.
Followed the instructions from here
It took ages to install, seems to need at least 16Gb, but runs at a reasonable pace.
I installed Edge, just to get something on the screen to test copy/paste with.
Results are not impressive
- can not copy/paste in or out of the win VM… neither with mouse or with ctrlCctrlV
- can drag a file into the VM, but when I drop it nothing appears
- can not drag out… it stops at the window boundary
- within w11 can copy/paste only with ctrkCctrlV, not with mouse
- can not mount a win11 vm filesystem from the host, even though my host has ntfs filesystem support.
- I was able to determine the IP address of the w11 VM, by looking in windows, but it is protected by NAT, and I can not even ping it from outside , let alone use it to communicate.
Linux does not seem to implement NAT so rigorously.
So, unless we can make some breakthrough, Win in a VM is going to be totally useless for
your purposes.
Big issue is, I have no idea what Win in a VM needs to make it copy/paste (linux needs spice-vdagent).
Does anyone know?
I might ask around and do a bit more reading.
Maybe Vbox or Gnome boxes would be better for this?
Regards
Neville
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Neville,
Well that is disheartening. When you say needs at least 16 gb, I am assuming you mean virtual drive space, not RAM, which as I stated, drive space is no issue.
I’ll try to do some research as well, see if I can find anyone with experience using Windows in a VM on Linux and from there maybe glean some info on if this is even possible.
If we cannot resolve it this way, I guess we are stuck going back to troubleshooting Barrier, maybe looking at the Windows side of things as we have not done that yet.
I was assuming since I installed Barrier on Kubuntu from the software manager and the firewall did not have to be configured that the same would apply here in Mint, but another KDE app I installed on Mint kept not working and I searched and found you absolutely DID have to let it through the firewall. I have never even had to look at the firewall on Kubuntu, and while I know how to use Windows firewall, Linux using the CLI was completely new to me. So that is something we may need to check. Maybe @Rosika can contribute to that issue as I have read her posts on Linux firewall settings.
Thanks, again
Sheila
No I mean ram. I set a max of 16Gb, and it used all of it.
Maybe tinyW11 was a bad choice. It was all I could get.
I did try W10 , but I only had a recovery disk, and that would not restore into a VM.
Only other thing I have is Win7… that is a bit old.
Lets just sit on it. There are a couple of people I can ask.
If I get any ideas, I have a testbed.
For the moment you should lean toward fixing barrier, I think
Sorry
Neville
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