Community-maintained Windows guest agent for SPICE. This repository is a public mirror of the abandoned freedesktop.org spice/win32/vd_agent project. Canonical downloads live on GitHub Releases.
The agent provides:
- Client mouse mode without grabbing the pointer
- Desktop resolution matching the client
- Clipboard sharing (text and images)
- File transfer into the guest
- A Windows service (
spice-agent) that startsvdagent.exein each session
Red Hat no longer maintains upstream SPICE. This fork keeps the Windows agent building and shipping for current guests, especially Windows 11 VMs on Linux.
The tree already includes the multi-GPU mouse fix from
d7405ee
(vdagent/desktop_layout.cpp): when a real GPU is passed through alongside the
SPICE display device, the agent no longer loses mouse movement.
The agent is GPL-2.0-or-later. See COPYING and the copyright headers in each source file. Original copyright remains with Red Hat, Inc. and other upstream authors. This fork does not claim the Red Hat or SPICE trademarks.
Pinned build-time submodules (do not bump casually):
Submodule URLs use HTTPS. MSI upgrades keep the historical WiX UpgradeCode
(7eb9b146-db04-42d7-a8ba-71fc8ced7eed). Related products are removed after
InstallValidate, before the install transaction begins, so the shared
components are recopied instead of being deleted by the old package's
uninstall. Because wixl does not read the PE version resource, the File
table gets RC_FILEVERSION explicitly; keep it identical to the four fields in
VS_VERSION_INFO. The x64 installer still only ships vdagent.exe and
vdservice.exe into C:\Program Files\SPICE agent\bin.
git clone --recursive https://github.com/nefarius/vd_agent.git
cd vd_agentIf you already cloned without submodules:
git submodule update --init --recursiveThe freedesktop GitLab remote is preserved as upstream after the mirror was
created. Fetch it with:
The Autotools + MinGW-w64 UCRT64 path is the supported way to produce the installer. CMake + MSVC remains available for local development but does not build an MSI.
- MSYS2
- An UCRT64 shell (
C:\msys64\ucrt64.exe, orMSYSTEM=UCRT64)
From the UCRT64 shell, in the repository root:
bash msys2/install.sh
autoreconf -i
bash msys2/build.sh builducrt64
bash msys2/package.sh builducrt64install.sh pulls autotools, autoconf-archive, the UCRT64 toolchain,
msitools (wixl), and ImageMagick (tests). PNG clipboard conversion uses
the Windows Imaging Component that ships with Windows Vista and later.
build.sh configures, compiles vdagent.exe / vdservice.exe, and runs
test-png, test-log, and test-shell. package.sh then invokes
make msi and writes:
builducrt64/spice-vdagent-x64-<version>.msi
Version strings come from git describe via
build-aux/git-version-gen. Release tags must
look like v0.11.0 (minor bumps) so Programs and Features shows the tag
exactly. Untagged builds add the commit count since the last tag (for example
v0.11.0 plus 83 commits becomes 0.11.0.83-<hash>). Configure fails if that count
plus --with-buildid reaches 256, because that would collide with the next
micro version.
To sign a local build, sign the two executables before package.sh, then
sign the MSI.
git submodule update --init --recursive
cmake -S . -B build64 -A x64
cmake --build build64 --config Release
cmake --build build64 --config Release --target checkGitHub Actions (.github/workflows/build.yml) builds the x64 UCRT64 MSI on
windows-2022.
| Event | Signing | Publish |
|---|---|---|
Pull request / master push |
Skipped | Workflow artifact vdagent-win-x64 only |
Tag v* |
Required | Signed MSI + SHA-256, artifact mirror, GitHub Release |
Signing uses SignRelay so the certificate never lands on the runner. The flow matches DsHidMini:
- Build and test unsigned binaries
- On a
v*tag, signvdagent.exeandvdservice.exein place - Package the MSI from those binaries
- Sign the MSI
- Verify Authenticode (
Get-AuthenticodeSignatureStatus =Valid) - Write
<msi>.sha256 - Upload
vdagent-win-x64and, on tags, notify AppVeyorArtifactsReceiver - Attach the MSI and checksum to the GitHub Release
The SignRelay composite action is pinned to commit
39ccbe0cef16a383237130380a5aef8db040d5d0. The CLI needs .NET 10 on the
runner (actions/setup-dotnet with 10.0.x).
Create these on nefarius/vd_agent (Settings → Secrets and variables):
| Name | Kind | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
SIGN_RELAY_SERVER |
Variable | Relay base URL, for example https://signrelay.api.nefarius.systems/ |
SIGN_RELAY_CI_TOKEN |
Secret | CI bearer token (SignRelay__CiToken on the server) |
WEBHOOK_URL |
Secret | AppVeyorArtifactsReceiver webhook |
Copy SIGN_RELAY_CI_TOKEN and WEBHOOK_URL from an already-working repo such
as DsHidMini. SIGN_RELAY_SERVER is already set as a repository variable.
Do not commit secret values.
The Windows SignRelay agent holds the code-signing certificate. Configure subject/thumbprint and timestamp there, not in this repository.
-
Update CHANGELOG.md
-
Tag an annotated release and push it:
git tag -a v0.11.0 -m "vdagent-win 0.11.0" git push origin v0.11.0 -
Confirm the Build workflow:
- unsigned path is not used
- both executables and the MSI verify as
Valid - artifacts receiver accepted the webhook
- the GitHub Release contains the MSI and
.sha256
-
Install the MSI in a Windows 11 SPICE guest and run the checklist below
If a tagged build fails after signing started, fix the tree and move the tag forward (or use a new minor version). Do not reuse a published MSI name with different bytes.
To recover a failed release: delete the GitHub Release draft if any, push a new tag, and keep the previous published tag immutable if users may have downloaded it.
appveyor.yml is kept only for historical parity with the last upstream
UCRT64 MSI layout. GitHub Actions is the authoritative CI. Remove AppVeyor
once a signed Actions MSI has been smoke-tested.
Use a Windows 11 guest on Linux (QEMU/KVM + SPICE), with the QXL or
qxl-wddm-dod display device.
- Clean install — run
spice-vdagent-x64-*.msias Administrator - Service —
spice-agentis Running / Automatic;vdagent.exeis present in the user session - SPICE connection — reconnect virt-viewer / spicy; agent channel is up
- Clipboard — text and a bitmap both ways
- File transfer — drop a file from the client; it lands on the desktop
- Dynamic resolution — resize the client window; the guest desktop follows when the WDDM QXL driver is in use
- Multi-GPU / passthrough mouse — add a real GPU for passthrough, keep
the SPICE display, confirm the pointer keeps moving (the
d7405eefix) - Upgrade — install over a previous Spice agent MSI; service comes back
- Uninstall — remove the product;
spice-agentis gone