[WIP] Windows Vista Extended Kernel

[Jakob99]

On 5/29/2022 at 3:13 PM, win32 said:

The 32 bit part of it is very broken now. I am trying to fix it.

However, I consider the new 64 bit enhancements to be finished.

Any update on getting Windows 7 drivers to work with Vista or are we still a long ways out from that?

[D.Draker]

On 5/31/2022 at 3:03 PM, Jakob99 said:

Any update on getting Windows 7 drivers to work with Vista or are we still a long ways out from that?

From what I gather, the working version of this kernel is only 64-bit . But the "famous" 64-bit Vista's bug on "modern" hardware is not solved .

So one would need to use Vista x86 and the 32-bit kernel .... and there's none.

Circle closed  ))))

[Jakob99]

6 minutes ago, D.Draker said:

From what I gather, the working version of this kernel is only 64-bit . But the "famous" 64-bit Vista's bug on "modern" hardware is not solved .

So one would need to use Vista x86 and the 32-bit kernel .... and there's none.

Circle closed  ))))

We could have a working fix if we can bakport it from Windows 7 Build 6519. I just procured an Acer Spin 5 with Skylake, so I'd be happy to test if a fix is found.

[D.Draker]

3 hours ago, Jakob99 said:

I just procured an Acer Spin 5 with Skylake

And I obtained a Kabylake desktop. But who's gonna port it ? I think I recently had even higher brain degradation from the loud explosions on the front.

[Sergiaws]

I expect 32 bits x86 chromium/electron apps will work some day

[D.Draker]

On 5/31/2022 at 3:03 PM, Jakob99 said:

getting Windows 7 drivers to work with Vista

If you want to test the newer drivers with this kernel , try these , they still don't have artificial blocks for Vista.

 

https://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GRAPHICS-BOARD/NVIDIA-GeForce-iCafe-Graphics-Driver-37560-64-bit.shtml

 

Maybe this one too.

 

https://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GRAPHICS-BOARD/NVIDIA/NVIDIA-GeForce-iCafe-Graphics-Driver-37611-64-bit.shtml

 

1 - Install the kernel and see if it works.

2 - Then install the drivers using the bypass method for *unsigned drivers*.

 

These drivers only have a couple of (or even one??) missing dependencies that included in the Kernel since some newer releases .

 

3 - Get back with the feedback.

[D.Draker]

On 5/31/2022 at 3:03 PM, Jakob99 said:

are we still a long ways out from that?

No , if only I'd have someone helping me . I can't do everything alone , you know.

 

You may start with 376,11 as it has only one missing function memcpy_s in nvlddmkm.sys (system kernel driver)

and don't forget to get rid of the telemetry first (before you install). Loads of info on how to do it,

And two functions are missing in the nvd3dumx.dll (this is the MAIN DX10/11 64-bit driver), while 

nvoglv64.dll - (OpenGL 64-bit driver) loads fine , this could explain perfectly working

OpenGL games , while DX10+ has slow framerates or not working at all (reported here earlier

many times).

 @win32, please help him and answer were these added or not. Looks these are the only ones that prevent DX10/DX11 from loading.

K32EnumProcessModules

K32GetModuleFileNameExA

 

This might help the other modders to understand what to do and where to search .

The following drivers and what they do:

nvd3dum.dll - DX9 32-bit driver

nvd3dumx.dll - DX9 64-bit driver

nvwgf2um.dll - DX10+ 32-bit driver

nvwgf2umx.dll - DX10+ 64-bit driver

nvoglv32.dll - OpenGL 32-bit driver

nvoglv64.dll - OpenGL 64-bit driver

 

EDIT :

 

 

In nvic.inf replace all occurrences of NTamd64.6.1 with NTamd64.6.0.

 

Edited June 2, 2022 by D.Draker

[win32]

28 minutes ago, D.Draker said:

 @win32, please help him and answer were these added or not. Looks these are the only ones that prevent DX10/DX11 from loading.

K32EnumProcessModules

K32GetModuleFileNameExA

@Jakob99 I added those functions for x64 and wow64.

But I haven't added memcpy_s to the publicly available ntoskrnl, because the GPU drivers tested with the ones that had the added functions had issues with DirectX. I wanted to fix that as well, and updating the DirectX kernel and watchdog.sys is required to update DirectX to Windows 7/8 level. watchdog.sys from Windows 7 should have worked on Vista, but it caused the system to boot with a blank screen (but working sounds), so the Vista version will have to be modified.

I also have to update the NTFS driver. It lacks TRIM support and there is a bug that I identified with it that all other NTFS drivers seem to lack. But it should be encountered very rarely (NT 4's USB drivers seem to be involved).

Edited June 2, 2022 by win32

[D.Draker]

3 hours ago, win32 said:

I haven't added memcpy_s

I tried to replace it with the ordinary memcpy but the driver failed to load with error code 43.

[D.Draker]

3 hours ago, win32 said:

the GPU drivers tested with the ones that had the added functions had issues with DirectX

Which versions of the drivers ?

[SigmaTel71]

6 minutes ago, win32 said:

But I haven't added memcpy_s to the publicly available ntoskrnl, because the GPU drivers tested with the ones that had the added functions had issues with DirectX. I wanted to fix that as well, and updating the DirectX kernel and watchdog.sys is required to update DirectX to Windows 7/8 level.

DirectX 11.1 one?

[D.Draker]

3 hours ago, SigmaTel71 said:

DirectX 11.1 one?

DirectX 11.1 is NOT available in windows 7 . There was a very *questionable* update that added *some* of it (only a *small* part).

[SigmaTel71]

5 minutes ago, D.Draker said:

DirectX 11.1 is NOT available in windows 7

Is it? Why then can I run DirectX 11.1 games in Windows 7, but not in Vista SP2 that features only 11.0?

Edited June 2, 2022 by SigmaTel71

[win32]

12 minutes ago, D.Draker said:

I tried to replace it with the ordinary memcpy but the driver failed to load with error code 43.

I think that there is a version check in the init procedure of the driver (.sys file) that returns, iirc, STATUS_NOT_SUPPORTED.

memcpy_s and memcpy are not equivalent as memcpy_s has an extra parameter (buffer size) where a memory address should go.

9 minutes ago, D.Draker said:

Which versions of the drivers ?

I have a few results from 375.63 and 372.90 on a GTX 1060. 375.63 had no DirectX acceleration available in dxdiag but Aero/DWM was working. 372.90 didn't have working Aero, but it did allow external monitor outputs to work, so it barely worked.

I did patch those two to remove the version check, and I will probably patch the 376.11 for the version check and memcpy_s. I believe 38x and up do not do the version check for NT 6.0.

Edited June 2, 2022 by win32

[D.Draker]

2 hours ago, SigmaTel71 said:

Is it? Why then can I run DirectX 11.1 games in Windows 7, but not in Vista SP2 that features only 11.0?

Yes , it is . And it's official . Loads of information you can google yourself.

Microsoft won't bring DirectX 11.1 to Windows 7

And this is my first amd last off-topic post here , sorry @win32

https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/microsoft-wont-bring-directx-11-1-to-windows-7/

https://www.techpowerup.com/175378/no-directx-11-1-for-windows-7