Re: Win11 22H2 and CoInstallers

[Chuck Zmudzinski <brchuckz@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 28/06/2023 15:33, Owen Smith wrote:
> Looks like the HLK tests for Win11 22H2 fail if you specify a coinstaller.
> I've not dug through the full implications of this yet, but looks like the
> coinstallers will need removing going forwards.

Hello,

I am glad to see there is an effort to get these drivers compatible
with Windows 11!

Here is a message in a long thread seven years old that explains what
happened to coinstallers:

https://community.osr.com/discussion/comment/276218/#Comment_276218

Quoting from that message:

> 1.11 was the last version that used a coinstaller and went down level. Every
> version afterward is only available on the os that released that version.

Since there are still coinstallers in use in the PV drivers, the PV drivers
must be using a version <= 1.11. After reading the thread linked to above,
it appears the implications are that if the Windows PV drivers can be
written for KMDF 1.11 (Windows 8) then the implication is that going forward,
the earliest version that can be supported going forward is Windows 8 without
a coinstaller. If the PV drivers are compatible with an even earlier version,
then the earliest version that can be supported would be whatever that
earlier version is. This means that it is likely it will be more difficult
to support older and no longer supported versions of Windows and Windows 11
with the same version of the drivers.

Of course, unless I am mistaken, in addition to removing coinstallers, it will
also be necessary to write a xentpm driver so Windows 11 can access the PV TPM
device, and upgrade the TPM device to version 2.0 if that is not done yet.

Thanks for your work on these drivers,

Chuck